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Class 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 






















































































































' 











4k | 

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• » 





















THE 


SERVERS 



By 

Joseph Erwin 
Wilson 


ytovii 

Of Reconstruction and Social Progress, Embracing 
« Practical Plans for Unlimited 

Christian Service 



THE SERVERS 

OR 

“In Business for Christ, 
Why NotT 



BY 


JOSEPH ERWIN WILSON 
HOUSTON, TEXAS 








COPYRIGHT, 1919 
BY JOSEPH ERWIN WILSON 




OCT -4 f9(9 

i 

© Cl. A5 36685 




'VW j 


INDEX 


CHAPTER PACE 

I. John 7 

II. Another John 15 

III. A Face in the Choir 21 

IV. Donald Ashton 29 

V. “In Business For Christ, Why Not?” 39 

VI. Service Store No. 1 51 

VII. Testing Time 59 

VIII. Service Movie and Service Mission 67 

IX. Little Mary 75 

X. Sorrow’s Shadow 87 

XI. Fortune Smiles 98 

XII. Mary’s Property 104 

XIII. “Goodbye, Little Newsboy” 118 

XIV. John Meets Mary 127 

XV. The “Crowd” Again 131 

XVI. Mary’s Work 138 

XVII. The Oil Land Suit 143 

XVIII. Service Temple of Fellowship 153 

XIX. “Know Your Neighbor Day” 162 

XX. “Putting a Smile on the Face of the Crowd”. . 171 



And He said unto them,. “The kings of the Gentiles exer- 
cise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority 
upon them are called benefactors. 

“But ye shall not be so : but he that is greatest among you, 
let him be as the younger; and he that is chief , as he that 
doth serve. 

“For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that 
serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you 
as he that serveth.” (St. Luke, 22:25, 26, 27.) 
































$ / 

% 







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CHAPTER I 

JOHN 

I 

“Well, John, how’s the Prince of the Wise Men today?” 

Ed Phillips dodged quickly to avoid a couch pillow which 
came in answer to his cheery greeting. He guessed his 
friend’s mood ; therefore, he was not surprised to see him 
turn his face to the wall, nor to hear him say : 

“Clear out, Ed, I feel like the devil today !” 

Ed dropped dejectedly into a chair as he responded : “You 
feel like the devil, John, while I feel like the devil’s best 
friend !” 

“Forgive me, old fellow,” cried the man on the couch, 
turning impulsively, “I’ve reduced you to my own miserable 
state — and when the sun goes into eclipse, the world be- 
comes dark indeed !” 

“Can that stuff, John; every eclipse of the past has been 
a matter of only a few hours.” 

“Ah, that’s your nature : the sunshine of your soul suf- 
fers only intermittent eclipse, and shines brightest after sud- 
den darkness. But with me it’s different ; my whole life has 
been a gradual, growing eclipse ; and today it seems to have 
reached a totality.” 

“Oh, there’s sunshine ahead somewhere; the brighter 
light still shines behind the lesser one.” 

“More of your incorrigible optimism, Ed — which you 
have always with you. How grateful I am for a friend who 
can walk in the shadow of my darkened nature and still 
retain the sunshine of his own joyous personality. But 
you’re not as care-free and jolly as you were. Is it because 
you have been cutting your crowd of late for my poor 
company?” 

“I have been eschewing the gay, will-o-the-wisp bunch, 
John, for the fellowship of a man worth while.” 

“Yes, and it is telling on you,” warned the dejected 
friend, with a grim laugh. “Soon you, too, will be full of 
blue-devils !” 

“When I was with the bunch, John,” reflected Ed, “I 
never had a serious thought ; but now, I’m continually ask- 


8 


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ing myself : ‘Where are we drifting? what’s the good of the 
life we’re living?’ But, the devil take it, when I’m with you 
I know no greater satisfaction. The whole world seems 
dead wrong and you and I helpless to right it. My crowd 
may be a gay bunch without a purpose except the pursuit 
of pleasure, but they’re good fellows at heart and worth- 
while in their way. They have the sunshine of life with 
them — even if it is garish and artificial — while you have a 
thundercloud always on your brow, and the devil knows 
what has taken lodgings in your heart !” 

With that, the protesting man got up, kicked a chair over, 
and slapped his comrade on the back, as he cried : “Come 
on, man, let’s get out of this dark hole and go where there’s 
life and movement !” 

The man on the couch rose reluctantly and, shaking him- 
self, followed his friend out of the room. 

Ed Phillips had no reason for calling his friend’s room a 
dark hole, except for the fact that one lone window let in 
the brightness from the outside. The room was small, but 
was neat and clean in every nook and cranny. It had been 
John Trainor’s home for the past two years. A Sherlock 
Holmes’ silent inspection of the place would have revealed 
much of the occupant’s nature and disposition. An easy 
chair clung close to the one window while tiers of book- 
shelves lined the wall nearby. A small table with an electric 
stand lamp on it told more of the story of a study comer ; 
while an inspection of the volumes on the crowded shelves 
would have divulged the rest of the story. Every volume 
would have revealed markings and double markings on many 
and varied subjects. Books on science, philosophy, religion, 
and “Lives” of men of every class, showed the owner’s 
passion for a knowledge of the world in which he lived, and 
for a deeper knowledge of himself. 

ii 

Until five years before this time John had lived at home 
with his people in a city some two hundred miles distant. 
He had been educated to be a lawyer because his father and 
grandfather before him had followed that profession. He 
had proved an eager, earnest student and had embraced 


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9 


with enthusiasm the sublime theories of Justice which he 
had encountered in his early studies of the law. 

But a few years in the actual practice of the law served 
effectively to shatter John Trainor’s dreams of the sub- 
limity of its Justice and of the greatness of its potency for 
curing the evils afflicting mankind. While the enthusiasm 
of his nature, aided by an inherited analytical mind, carried 
him through the maze of the law’s technicalities, and he 
sought no quarter there, yet, his heart pitied other lawyers 
less fortunate than himself who, in their quest after Justice, 
would become hopelessly lost in a labyrinth of legal techni- 
calities which led, always, in the end, to — Injustice. The 
senseless delay, the cruel expense, the utter lifeless bookish- 
ness of the law, together with the criminal ethics of the legal 
profession, would have soured the soul of one far less ideal- 
istic than John Trainor. 

The crisis in his legal career came one gloomy day as he 
stood across the street gazing at the magnificent courthouse 
building, reaching stories high and capped by a huge dome. 
Sculptured on the front of the great structure was a giant 
statue of the Goddess of Justice balancing her scales. As 
John gazed each brick and stone in the building seemed 
to turn to a Book, and soon the whole huge structure be- 
came a mass, piled high, of Books ! On top stood the giant 
Goddess balancing her scales ! As John continued gazing 
he imagined he saw a lawyer, after great ceremony and with 
great formality, place a law book on one end of the scales. 
As the scales bore down, John thought: “That’s a report 
from this State;” and then, at the other end of the scales, 
another lawyer, after making a hurried search of his library, 
triumphantly placed a book on his end of the scales — and 
behold ! the scales became neuter and there was no law ! But 
the first lawyer could be c ,een diligently searching his library, 
and soon, with great complacency, he placed a second book 
on his end of the scales — and again the scales of Justice lost 
their equilibrium ! But the second lawyer was not so easily 
to be outdone: he began a laborious search of his library, 
he and all his partners and all his clerks. And John thought : 
“They would like to find a New York case; it would be 
considered more weighty.” 


10 


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John continued watching the two lawyers, and their part- 
ners, and their clerks, searching their libraries, and each 
other’s libraries, and all other libraries. He saw them 
gathering ‘‘decisions” from the States from Maine to Texas, 
and from across the ocean, and from Rome and from 
Greece. (And from Palestine? No! They did not go to 
the land of the Man who summoned all law up in two simple 
commands — reducible even to one!) John gazed at the 
lawyers piling the books high on the scales and he wondered 
that the back of Justice did not bend and break beneath the 
load ! 

Beyond the huge mass in front of him he saw the publish- 
ers turning out other books by the thousands ! And he 
wishes in his heart that all the futile Law Books in the 
world might be gathered into one huge pile — and that he 
might be permitted to touch the torch ! What a grand fun- 
eral pyre that would be! And then Justice, perhaps, would 
no longer be crucified on a Cross of Custom and Precedent 
as set forth in musty legal tomes ! And mayhaps men would 
fear longer to murder and to steal ! 

As John turned away from his moody vision he saw Judge 
Thompson, of the firm of Thompson, Baker, Martin & 
Brown, just emerging from the court-house door. A well- 
dressed, smiling client walked by the Judge’s side; and two 
young lawyer-clerks followed close behind — with their arms 
full of Law Books ! A few moments later, another lawyer 
came out of the court-house; who was not as well-dressed 
as the Judge — nor was the client who walked by his side; 
for she was a pale-faced little woman dressed in black, 
whose shriveled hand held tightly to the hand of a little 
child toddling by her side. The lawyer seemed earnestly 
endeavoring to explain something to his client ; and as they 
passed him, John noticed that the woman’s thin, white lips 
were tremulous with suppressed emotion. He moved on 
with a heavy heart. Ah, the pity, the pity, the pity of it ! — 
when humanity ceases to be human ! Woman, widow, child, 
babe, you have no Sex in the law ; you are but a — Case ! 

John did not realize it fully; but in his subconscious 
nature a crisis had been reached and a decision had been 
made. The hopelessness in the woman’s eyes and the tremor 


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11 


of her lips had touched his heart like a prick of steel. And 
his soul had suddenly revolted against that thing which is 
miscalled Justice ! 

It was several days before he dared to look up for that 
Star which will point us East or West if we have the cour- 
age to follow its leading. But once having sought guidance, 
he was not long in following. His people were not surprised 
at his decision to go West, for he was an enigma to them. 
With every promise of a brilliant future in the law, in poli- 
tics, and in society, he showed interest in none of these 
avenues but seemed to scorn every opportunity leading 
toward success. 

hi 

During the first few months of his travels, John kept close 
to the crowded paths of men. “Brick and mortar bee-hives 
of humanity,” he thought, as he traveled from city to city. 
How cruel the cities are to one who does not possess their 
Open Sesame ! 

At length, the wanderer turned his face toward the coun- 
try — landing on a great farm-ranch far out in the West 
where the sun lingers last and longest in its red-orbed glory. 
And out there the man from the city fell in love with — 
Nature ! Nature revealed herself to him in her many and 
varied forms, and his dormant enthusiasm mounted like 
the rising of the morning sun and the red blood coursed 
anew through his veins. He lavished his enthusiasm alike 
on the livestock and’ on the fields of grain — golden in the 
summer’s glow — and on his studies which covered every 
phase of the production, distribution and consumption of 
farm and ranch products. Surely the eclipse had faded, 
the darkness had lifted from John Trainor’s life, and he 
counted himself happy. 

But what is to be counted the true measure of man’s 
happiness? Is it Love of Nature? Love of Self? Love of 
Man as Brother-man? Love of God? No! The eternal 
measure of man’s happiness is Love of Woman ! God de- 
creed it so when He said it is not good for man to be alone. 

Then John Trainor met Lucy Atherton. Lucy lived in 
a small town nearby. And when the summer’s silver moons, 
and the autumn’s golden moons had waxed and waned, 


12 


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Lucy and John had become engaged. And John believed 
that his happiness had reached its high-water mark! He 
did not know — then — that every Real Thing in life has an 
Imitation; that every good thing has a “just as good;” that 
even Love has a counterfeit — which only an expert can 
recognize. He thought that his happiness had reached its 
high-water mark, but he was reckoning without — another 
man; he was reckoning without the knowledge that some 
women sometimes — calculate. Lucy Atherton did not pause 
to question her love for John Trainor until Arnold Manton 
came demanding — to be Weighed and Measured and 
Judged! And then Lucy — calculated on many things ! 

And John, after a tragic period of adjustment, looked up 
once again for that Star which will guide us East or West 
if we have the courage to follow its leading ! 

iv 

The distracted man had had his Law-idol shattered ; he 
had had his Woman-idol shattered — and with the shatter- 
ing of the latter goes the wreck of all World-idols. And his 
God-idol? John had no God. He had been reared to be a 
lawyer-statesman : and statesmen do not need to know 
God — for only the rarest of statesmen ever take God into 
partnership in their planning for a people ! 

If ever a man was without a purpose, John Trainor now 
was. He was adrift on the ocean of life without compass 
or chart to guide, or anchor of hope to hold him anywhere ! 
He drifted across the country aimlessly; but always from 
city to city. Sometimes he slept in boxes with the news- 
boys — slept in boxes in the city alleys with future Govern- 
ors and Congressmen ! — who stole his money from him in 
the nighttime, and shared their meals with him by day ! 
Little evolving figures of humanity, whose nationality is — 
Man ! 

John walked the beats with the friendly policemen, far 
into the hours of the night. He listened while they dis- 
coursed of life, and its problems; while they talked about 
the kids at home, and of the coming change in administra- 
tion, and of the chances of holding on. He followed them 
into the rich wards and into the poor wards; into th‘e good? 
wards and into the bad? wards. He saw life with its coat 


THE SERVERS 


13 


off; Life in all its Nakedness : in its ugliness and its beauty, 
in its shame and its glory. He mixed with the crowd, and 
listened to the coarse mouthings of men ; watched the filthy 
actions of men — and wondered at their vileness ! He saw 
other men, big, strong, iron men, weep like women when 
their hearts were touched ; he saw them do a thousand acts 
of kindness — little acts and big acts — and he wondered at 
the nobleness of men ! 

On every hand he saw wrecks of men, finished and in the 
making; he saw wrecks of women, in every tragic stage; 
and he saw other men, and other women, flocking, like 
moths to the flame, that they, too, might be scorched and 
scarred and shriveled, and presently cast onto the scrap- 
heap ! For all time, he learned the lesson that the lust of 
the flesh is death ! He saw young women lose their youth 
almost in a day, and the coarseness and horror of their 
calling fix itself, over night, forever, in their faces and their 
features, and in their every look and action. 

The lonely man tired of the cities, and wandered into the 
towns ; into the big towns and the little towns, and at length 
into the villages. Here he listened to men sitting on dry- 
goods boxes whittling, and, after the manner of men — 
solving the problems of government! The amused man 
wandered back to the cities, the capitol cities, and sat in the 
galleries of the legislative halls, and watched, like an unseen 
eye from above, other men — in their blind fashion — solving 
the problems of government ! And the scorning man laughed 
as he thought of the men on the dry-goods boxes — and won- 
dered if there was any real difference between the two 
classes of statesmen ! 

Only on a few rare occasions, when he lingered longest 
in the larger cities, did the wanderer ever drop into the 
rescue missions. As he did not frequent these often enough 
to learn their real workings he, therefore, sat unmoved at 
their services. John Trainor knew, somehow, that the earn- 
est speakers to whom he listened had a message for men; 
but he did not think of them ever as having a message for 
himself. The songs he heard always brought back mem- 
ories of his boyhood days — when, as a little tot, he had gone 
to Sunday School. Though he heard the name of Christ 


14 


THE SERVERS 


spoken often, yet for him, it was only — a name! He 
listened to the “testimony” of the men who claimed to have 
been “saved, ” but did not stop to differentiate between these 
men and others around him, many of whom, he knew, would 
be out on the streets the next day begging a dime, or out 
in the city begging for hats and shoes — to sell for whiskey. 
On the whole, the missions meant no more to John Trainor 
than the fire departments, the police departments, the charity 
bureaus, the segregated districts — all of which were classed, 
in his mind, simply as necessary adjuncts to a city. 

As he passed along the streets he would sometimes pause 
a moment to listen to the Salvation Army— another adjunct 
to the city. Here his interest was more in what might be 
called the “mechanics of their movements” than in the 
messages of the workers. They, too, spoke often of the 
Christ — a name. The unmoved listener tossed a coin on 
the drum when he happened to have one loose in his pocket ; 
he admired the Army though he did not stop to reason why. 
Their songs, too, never failed to awaken deep boyhood 
memories ! How the Spirit of Song follows one through 
the years ! 

In passing the churches, too, he oftentimes would pause, 
arrested, perhaps, by the solemn tones of an organ. But 
he entered them, never : his traveling clothes were the same 
on Sundays as on week days. Occasionally, the ringing 
voice of a minister would bring to him the words “Christ 
Jesus!” And sometimes,, mayhaps, there would come to 
him, floating through the stained and scriptured windows, 
the clear notes of a woman’s voice : 

“For the darkness shall turn to dawning, 

And the dawning to noon-day bright, 

And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth, 

The kingdom of Love and Light.” 

But the weary man moved on, always, stirred only by the 
sacred memory of childhood song! 


THE SERVERS 


15 


CHAPTER II 

ANOTHER JOHN 
I 

One Sunday morning as the lonely wanderer was passing 
a small church in the suburbs of a large city, two little girls 
stopped him with smiles and held up their class cards for 
his approval. The man smiled as he looked at the cards. 

“Mine is a picture of Jesus,” said the little tot with 
brown eyes. 

“And who is yours a picture of?” John asked the one 
with blue eyes. 

“Mine is a picture of Jesus, too,” the little child replied. 

He smiled again as he handed the cards back and passed 
on. They were pictures of — a man. “And who is Jesus ?” — 
the question unconsciously framed itself in his mind. And 
the answer came, as unconsciously, “The Jesus of the chil- 
dren is the Christ of mankind.” The man wondered that he 
had never stopped to deeply reason about Jesus, the Christ ! 
And yet, he would have laughed if any one had asked him 
so simple a question as had unconsciously shaped itself in 
his mind. He had loved Jesus when he was a child. But 
as he had grown older, he had drifted away from the teach- 
ings of the Sunday School — to the dances and the parties. 
And as he had grown still older, the clubs and the theatres 
had claimed him for their devotee. His crowd had not 
reasoned about the Christ, and why should he. How much 
easier it is to be good or bad in crowds ! 

Wrapped deeply in thought, John had not gone five blocks 
from the little tots with the picture cards when he suddenly 
suffered an accident of which he was to know nothing until 
a few days later. As he started to cross a street an auto- 
mobile, turning swiftly at the corner, ■ struck him and 
knocked him to the pavement so quickly that he did not 
realize he had been struck. 

The injured man lay on a cot in a hospital for days, 
almost entirely oblivious to his surroundings. But often in 
his half-conscious moments, while his senses rocked, he 
would see the shadowy forms of the Sisters, robed in white, 


16 


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moving around the room ; and often, on awakening suddenly, 
he would see their pale, kindly faces gazing intently at him — 
and for the first time in his life John Trainor thought, half- 
dreamily, of the concrete reality of angels ! 

As the days passed, the patient regained his strength but 
slowly, and during this time the tender nursing of the Sisters 
won his heart completely. Sister Benedive became his favor- 
ite, and it was to this Sister that he directed his first inquiry 
about his surroundings. 

“Sister, what hospital is this?” 

“This is St. Mary’s; you were struck by an automobile 
just a few blocks from here.” 

“How fortunate I was to have been brought here,” he 
murmured, “you are so very kind to sick strangers !” 

“Sick people are not strangers to us,” smiled the Sister, 
“we know hardly any but sick people.” 

As the sick man lay on his cot, helpless, through the days, 
ministered to by the gentlest of hands, and soothed and 
encouraged by the kindliest of words, his thoughts went out 
into a realm of life he never hitherto had explored. And 
so strange a realm was it to him, that he would beg the 
company of Sister Benedive on his troublesome thought 
journeys. And the Sister told him — as he never had heard 
it told before — the loving story of the Crucifix which hung 
pendant against her breast. And she told him other, and 
many, stories about the Christ to whose service she had 
dedicated her life. 

“You are so much stronger now,” she said to him one 
day, “we are going to send you out into the beautiful park 
which is close by.” 

And each day thereafter John was assisted out to the 
park ; and as he grew stronger, he loved to wander along its 
paths and by-paths, which led him beneath the friendly 
shade of trees and past the cooling spray of fountains. He 
recovered his strength only slowly, as he had no reason to 
recover it rapidly — for he heard no friendly or insistent 
call from the world without to hasten his healing. His 
thoughts, his ambitions, his plans, his works — all which had 
been bounded by the horizon of this world — had now van- 
ished into thin air ; and he had no hope nor purpose beneath 


THE SERVERS 


17 


the stars! Nor had his thoughts or dreams extended far 
enough or dwelled long enough in that realm beyond the 
stars as to reveal to him hope or purpose there. His thought 
journeys with Sister Benedive had clarified his vision some- 
what, but a misty fog still blocked it at the sky-line, and he 
saw no real World, or Man, beyond. 

One afternoon, late, as it was nearing the time for him 
to leave the hospital, he strayed a number of blocks distant 
and came upon a crowd gathering in a large structure, which 
seemed to have been erected for only temporary use. While 
he paused, music started, and the man knew then that it was 
a religious meeting, and without any hesitancy he sought a 
seat in the rear. The choir, two-score trained voices, started 
singing; their melody swept away the noise of the world 
and held the vast audience under a spell. But as the voices 
of the choir served but to make vocal a melody already in 
the souls of those who listened, the last, low, dying note of 
the organ left a longing for a further utterance. The great 
preacher deftly picked up the dying note of the organ, and 
the music of his voice, its impelling charm, touched in the 
souls before him the same chords as had yielded their vibra- 
tions to the anthems of the choir. 

John Trainor, too, came under the immediate spell of the 
music. A craving in his soul awaked to life; it panted for 
the divine breath borne to it on the sweet, modulated tones 
of the organ. And when the last, low note died away John 
merely shifted the concentrated craving of his soul from 
the choir to the minister. And then, while the melody of a 
man’s voice held his senses rapt, and the flash of fire in a 
man’s soul lighted the world for him, the genius of a man’s 
mind, and the rhythmic rise and fall and spread of a man’s 
hands painted for him, across the canvas of the centuries, 
in colors so vivid, a picture of the Supreme Man that the 
Christ stood before him, never to be forgotten. 

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free !” 

With that Truth text as the background the evangelist 
had powerfully portrayed the Christ. And John wondered 
that the Spirit of this Man could have lived in the world 
for nineteen hundred years, and that he should have known 

2 


18 


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so little about Him ! And yet he conceded how natural it 
is that such a Man should exist — a supreme Man-Pattern 
for men to fashion their lives by ! 

John Trainor went away pondering about the Christ. 
Already he knew that it would be necessary for him to 
reconstruct his world with this Man in it. He marveled 
that his own nature could have been so idealistic when he 
had known so little about the Christ, and he was not sur- 
prised now that his idealism had failed him in the crisis. 

“I have loved my fellow-men,” he considered, deeply, “and 
I know it has not been a demagogic love; but I know now 
that it has not been the sacrificial LOVE of the Christ ! It 
has been a love spelled with small letters. Ah, how much 
richer the world would be if the two words were spelled 
with different letters — that people might not be confused 
as I have been, thinking they LOVE their fellows, when 
really they only love them !” 

And John had thought, too, that he had been a good 
democrat; but now he was just making the acquaintance of 
a Real Democrat! He. had been, too, a student of Social- 
ism — had pronounced its theories dreams ! dreams ! impos- 
sible of realization; but now he would have to study 
Socialism anew in the light of a Super-Dreamer ! 

The following night the deeply stirred man came again 
and listened to the evangelist preach on “Christ and His 
Disciples, Then and Now.” The topic to follow was “Christ 
and the Church.” And after this sermon the preacher called 
for penitents — and John was among those first to respond. 
Indeed, he was penitent for his past. For if he had not 
scoffed openly at religion as something for weak men and 
weeping women, he at least had scorned it by ignoring it, 
and for him Christ had been but an empty — name ! 

“I have much to make up for,” he said to the evangelist, 
“and I now shall summon all the loyalty and strength of 
which my soul is capable to lay on the altar of the Cause 
of Christ. You, indeed, have opened for my vision the 
portals into another World !” 

The excited man went away happy, exultant that he had 
enlisted under the banner of that wonderful, powerful, sor- 
rowful, glad Man of the Centuries who, though He loved 


THE SERVERS 


19 


little children and lost sheep, and turned the other cheek, 
yet stood the Gigantic Figure of All Time, with a kingdom 
of Love greater than all the kingdoms of Force ! 

John Trainor’s loyalty to his new faith was full of the 
enthusiasm of his nature. As he waited to regain his 
strength, he had but one thought : to hurry homeward with 
the new happiness in his heart. He had been absent for 
more than two years now, and he wondered if, on his re- 
turn, the folks would think of him as a lost one found. He 
had not “wallowed in the mire,” still, he wondered if they 
would think of him as the proverbial “prodigal son.” John 
did not know that the fatted calf has gone out of fashion 
and that the “going aways” and “home-comings” in this 
age often do not receive as much comment from near and 
dear ones as does the little scandal of yesterday, or the 
hoped for one of tomorrow. 

His mother received him with open arms — as mothers 
always have, and always will, welcome their returning sons. 
Someone has said : “When God thought of Love it was the 
grandest thought He ever conceived;” but we must believe, 
surely, that when God thought of Mother, He transcended 
even Love itself ! 

ii 

Although John’s world with the Spirit of Christ in it was 
a new and wonderful one to him, yet he found other people, 
strangely oblivious to this great Force, pursuing the even 
tenor of their yesterdays. “I should worry” seemed to be 
the philosophy of the many as well as the philosophy of the 
phrase-maker and of the phrase devotee. 

Soon after returning home he launched into the mercan- 
tile business. An opportunity presented itself, and as he had 
no plans of any kind, he accepted the first opening that 
promised an honest livelihood. He had no intention to 
resume the practice of law. Yet, in associating himself with 
the mercantile business, he did so without any serious plan- 
ning of his own; he seemed not to be guiding his own 
destiny. 

But John sorrowfully discovered the ethics of business to 
be on the same deplorable dead level with the ethics of the 
law. Not the means but the end — and that end success 


20 


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spelled $ucce$$. And in the mad onward rush toward that 
$ucce$$ it mattered not if a woman, widow, or child was 
trampled under foot. He had driven home to him the fact 
that “business is business,” and clearly learned that most 
men spell christ with a small “c” while spelling “COM- 
MERCE” with blazing capital letters. The new convert 
sorrowed deeply as he found that even in the lives of most 
church people the Christ of Sunday vanishes away when 
Monday’s morning sun rises to shed the splendor of its 
mellow gold over the world He died to save. 

The earnest man as yet had found no adequate outlet for 
the pure waters of his religious enthusiasm. Convention’s 
pall covered the church, and there was no frenzy of the 
stock exchange, or wild roar of the baseball crowd, to sweep 
away the chill of the church crowd. The strong man grew 
restless under such restraint. His mind became full of con- 
fusion, and he did not know which way to turn in order to 
render that Service which he felt it should be his privilege 
to render. He did not feel the call to preach the Gospel, 
nor did he feel the call to go to the foreign mission field. 
Yet he became increasingly conscious that there was being 
dammed up within him something of that same dynamic 
passion which had fired the souls of the Savanarolas and 
the Calvins, of the Luthers and the Wesleys. 

“If I do see a clear way ahead I am likely to break loose 
at something that will shock my people to death,” — and 
John Trainor smiled as he thought of his parents’ sensitive 
social pride ! 

At length there was but one thing for the distracted man 
to do, and that was to look up once again for that Star 
which will guide us East or West if we have the courage 
to follow its leading. 


THE SERVERS 


21 


CHAPTER III 

A FACE IN THE CHOIR 

I 

Presently John Trainor started East. When he had trav- 
eled some two hundred miles from home, a bright Sunday 
morning found him in a pew of one of the magnificent 
“First” churches of a large city. The great building was 
as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside, and as 
the worshiper sat in his pew all in front of him was pleasing 
and inspiring. The tall, moderately decorated brass tubes of 
the pipe organ, rising in serried ranks behind the altar, 
made an imposing background for the mixed choir of more 
than half a hundred members. As John sat through the 
services, one beautiful face in the choir stood out from all 
the rest, and as his fancy encircled that face with a bright 
halo of sentiment he unconsciously crowned another invis- 
ible influence in his life! 

He did not proceed upon his travels — though he could 
not have given a clear reason for changing his plans. But 
we know that whenever the face, form, intellect, or will of 
woman assumes its sway, in nearness or in farness, over 
mere man, he ceases forever to act from motives of pure 
reason alone! 

John had not started out on his travels wholly purpose- 
less; he had pledged his life to the Service of Christ, and 
to serve Christ he was convinced that he must serve his 
fellow-men. But just the way of service was not clear to 
him ; somehow, he half-believed, half-hoped, that in the East 
or in the West a way would be opened to him. He would 
not be content to serve in any haphazard, half-efficient man- 
ner ; he was determined that his services should measure up 
to the full number of talents that God had given him. 

Now that his travels seemed to be ended, he turned to 
what seemed the next most available source of light and 
knowledge and inspiration open to him — he turned to books. 
After seeking and securing a position which required his 
services for only a portion of each day, he devoted the rest 
of his time to study. 


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Each succeeding Sunday found him in the same pew in 
First Church. The beautiful face in the choir held for him 
a fascination that deepened with each passing week. Mary 
Ashton did not appear in the choir every Sunday. For 
weeks in succession she would be absent and on such Sun- 
days John sat with a growing realization of the depression 
her absence caused him. On some Sunday nights, at the 
meetings of the Young People’s Society, it was John’s privi- 
lege to see Mary in closer proximity, as it was the custom 
for some one or more members of the choir to render solos 
at these meetings, and on rare occasions Mary Ashton was 
the singer. 

John attended the meetings of the Young People’s Society 
regularly, though he did not take any part in their proceed- 
ings. He had been an active worker in the Society at home, 
but here, though every one was friendly, it did not occur 
to them to invite him to become a member; and he heard 
no public invitations to join the Society. He might have 
ceased his attendance entirely but for the anticipation of 
those rare occasions when Mary Ashton sang. 

But one Sunday night several months after his first 
attendance the young woman who was leading the services 
turned toward him and said : 

‘‘Will not the visiting gentleman over there speak a few 
words on the topic?” 

The direct and unexpected invitation startled him, as 
Mary Ashton had just rendered a solo and he was still 
rapt in the enchantment of her voice, but recovering his 
poise quickly he rose to his feet. The topic of the evening 
was “Visions.” 

“Visions are necessary, my friends,” he began. “Visions 
must precede the doing of things. But there are true visions 
and there, are false ones. Visions of worldly wealth, of 
worldly powers and profits and pleasures are false visions, 
and they lead — nowhere. They are like the mirage of the 
desert, ‘which lures the famishing traveler on, and ever on, 
until at last it fades away into the darkening horizon !’ True 
visions are like the rising eastern sun, which wakes a sleep- 
ing world to the new-born hope of another day; which 
climbs the heights of the heavens, kissing the craggy moun- 


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23 


tain tops on its way, and as it journeys from the east toward 
the west, it warms and cheers alike the inmates of the hovel 
on the hill-top and the inmates of the radiant palace which 
has its place beside the purling stream in the green valley 
below! And at last, leaving a lingering memory of purple 
and gold, the great red-orb sinks in splendor to its western 
sleep. And the little child who watches the splendor of its 
going has no fear, for he lays himself down to sleep with 
every assurance that he will awake on the morn and see that 
same sun, in all its state, climb its eastern stairs ! 

“And so, my friends, our true visions lead us up the moun- 
tain heights, enabling us as we go to warm and cheer alike 
the rich and the poor. And at last, like the little child, we 
may lay ourselves down to a dreamless sleep with every 
assurance that we shall awake on the eternal morn and be- 
hold the Son of God as He sits on His throne in all His 
state !” 

After the meeting a number expressed, their appreciation 
to the speaker for what he had said, and insisted that he 
become a member of the Society. John consented, and dur- 
ing the following months frequently took part in the pro- 
ceedings. On a few occasions he and Mary Ashton both 
appeared on the program the same night, but he was not 
introduced to her. Mary attended the meetings only when 
she was to sing; and then it was the custom of the members 
of the choir either to slip out as soon as they had rendered 
their song or, at least, to hurry away immediately after, the 
close of the meeting, in order to be present in the choir 
room before the beginning of the regular church services. 

When many months had passed John tried to believe that 
on at least a few occasions when she had lingered a moment 
after the meetings Mary had glanced toward him with what 
seemed to be an invitation for him to speak to her. But if 
this was more than his fancy she alone knew. 

Once a month the Society gave a social in the basement 
of the church. John attended these social meetings fre- 
quently, but Mary never did. She moved in another sphere 
and her only interest in the church seemed to be as an irreg- 
ular member of the choir. Her father, one of the most 
prominent bankers and wealthiest capitalists in the city, was 


24 


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a member of the official board of the church, but he, too, 
rarely attended its services. 

ii 

A few weeks after John first came to the city he found 
the little room mentioned in the beginning of this narrative, 
and there he had made his home and had pursued his studies 
through the months. 

Delving again into the study of Socialism, he had come 
to the inevitable conclusion that its dreams would be real- 
ized in the fullness of time, but only with the full fruition 
of Christianity. Studying the history of the various Com- 
munistic undertakings in this country, he was not surprised 
at their failure, nor at their partial measure of success. 
Reading the history of the Salvation Army, his admiration 
for the Army grew as he learned of its mighty works. He 
read the lives of many great prophets and preachers, but he 
felt no call to preach the Gospel. He investigated Christian 
Science, and in his heart wished the Scientists well in their 
interpretation of Christ, but he could not follow them. Again 
he took up, where he had left off years before, his studies 
of the sciences and the philosophies, and he even delved 
into the mazes of mysticism. 

During these months of study John Trainor suffered much 
travail of soul but he did not lose his faith. He clung to 
his vision of Christ, though a Way of Service he did not 
yet find. If possible his confusion of mind became greater 
as the months passed — and his spirits correspondingly de- 
pressed. He was not unfaithful to the near duties at hand ; 
he did not neglect to visit the sick, nor to feed the hungry, 
and the life of many a poor person in the city was brighter 
and richer because John Trainor had contacted it. But the 
restless man was not content to serve a few ; his dreams and 
passions passed the bounds of the concept of ordinary work- 
a-day Christian service. His strong soul felt a kinship with 
those mighty souls of the past who had dared to dream and 
to do beyond what had been done, and beyond what was 
being done, in the conventional way around them. 

On that day when he had greeted the entrance of Ed into 
his room with the heaving of a pillow John’s spirits had 


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25 


dropped to the lowest depths of depression. It would be 
difficult to say, however, whether this morbidness of spirit 
was caused more by the lack of having a definite plan of 
action in life or more by a growing sense of the aloofness 
of Mary Ashton and the hopelessness of his love for her. 
Mary lived and moved and had her being in a sphere en- 
tirely different from his, and he felt as though he were wor- 
shiping a star to which he could never draw near. 

Ed Phillips half-surmised the latter to be the cause of 
his friend’s depression, and as he led him out onto busy 
Main Street he said to him as they walked along : 

“Old man, I know what’s the matter with you. Your 
mechanism is all right, but you are like a clock with its main- 
spring broken : you lack motive power. You need to fall 
in love. Dr. Harlan once said in a sermon : ‘Love is the 
motive force which moves the world.’ ” 

“Is that all he said?” asked John sarcastically. “The 
Doctor should have told you that it is love and — lust. Lust 
of the flesh, lust of power, of place, of pleasure, — lust of 
what-not. You see that brawny red-faced man with the 
spade, in the sewer-trench over there? That man bends his 
back by the hour for the whiskey it will bring him at the 
end of the day. Tomorrow he will bend his back for more 
whiskey, and what goes with whiskey ; whiskey is the motive 
power that moves him. And the small man next to him 
whose coarse mouthings we can hear, he has escaped the 
curse of whiskey but the sex-lust has scorched and shriveled 
his very soul, leaving him a moral leper. Lust of the flesh 
moves that man to the digging of sewer-trenches. And the 
politician passing along the sidewalk over there, with the 
large slouch hat, the cigar, the long coat, — ambition is the 
power that dominates him. And the man following be- 
hind,” — John spoke before he clearly recognized Mary Ash- 
ton’s father, but he did not hesitate — “lust of money, lust 
of power, of place, are the motive forces which move him. 
But there,” he continued, pointing across the street, “the 
man in the doorway with the smiling face, waving to the 
woman and baby in the car, love is the motive force which 
moves him ; and love is really the sublime, the divine motive 
force !” 


26 


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“Right you are,” cried Ed quickly, “and that’s what you 
need in your life.” 

“And you?” queried John, with a smile. 

“Ah, me? Oh, I still have youth and enthusiasm. And 
enthusiasm will make the mare go when all else fails.” 

“True it will, Ed; the power of enthusiasm is not half 
appreciated. But do not forget that enthusiasm, like blood, 
sometimes coagulates.” 

The two friends walked on for a time in silence, and 
John’s memory ran back to a face in the Far West. 

“Love is a dangerous thing, Ed. Or, rather,” he queried 
slowly, “is it something wearing the disguise of love that 
springs suddenly, like an adder, from the gentlest woman’s 
breast. ?” 

“Why, have you been stung, old man?” laughed Ed. “Or, 
are you just philosophizing? 

“You started the subject,” retorted John, “and I’m just 
giving you the benefit of my wisdom.” 

“Strikes me, right now you have need of all your wisdom 
along that line,” his friend flared back. 

“What d’ye mean?” 

“I mean, do you think as I’ve sat by your side in church, 
lo, these numberless times, I’ve been deaf, dumb and blind? 
And has Mary Ashton’s hundred indirect questions involv- 
ing you, disguised as they were, all been from idle curiosity ? 
Of course you’re in love — and if Mary Ashton’s not, it’s 
your own fault !” 

John followed his friend’s words with widening eyes. 

“Ed, you’re a wonder !” 

“Wonder the devil,” retorted Phillips sarcastically, “the 
whole world knows when a man’s in love before he knows 
it himself. But what’s the, use of moping, John? You have 
as red blood in your veins as Mary Ashton has in hers. 
Why don’t you chuck the books and the placid life for 
awhile and strike the pace that Mary goes — perhaps you’d 
soon agree on a pace mutually satisfactory.” 

John did not reply at once, and they continued walking. 

“Oh, look who’s coming!” exclaimed Ed. 

Mary Ashton was driving toward them in her big car. 
As she neared the men she slowed the car, beaming on them 


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27 


with smiles. Ed left John without a word and, running, 
jumped on the foot-board of the car, and climbed in by 
Mary’s side. 

Ed Phillips belonged to one of the oldest families in the 
city and his social position was unquestioned. He held a 
responsible position in the bank of which Mary Ashton’s 
father was president and he was a favorite at the Ashton 
home. But to keep up with the set which had as its pace- 
maker Mary Ashton herself, it required most of the young 
man’s income. 

Continuing on alone John Trainor was racked with 
thoughts and emotions not wholly new. 

“Why not give up the books and the quiet life, and enter 
Mary Ashton’s circle?” 

He had voluntarily quit a similar circle at home ; he knew 
its pace, and that its standards opposed his own. He knew 
its demands. Why, then, take up the old life? Mary Ash- 
ton was the only reason, the only answer. 

As the troubled lover walked on in the gathering darkness 
he looked up at the stars taking their places one by one — 
while his spirit went out -seeking guidance from a Wisdom 
greater than his own ! 

As it was Saturday night, John was not walking aimlessly, 
and eventually he brought up before a small home in the far 
outskirts of the city. He entered the open door without 
knocking, and, from the reception accorded him, he was 
evidently expected. John never missed spending a half-hour 
or more in that little home on Saturday evenings. For, 
many months previously, he had found Charlie Inman, the 
husband and father, struggling helpless in the clutches of 
the whiskey monster, with his wife and children in a state 
of wretched poverty, sickness and misery; and John had 
proven himself the friend in need. Sharing with the un- 
fortunates the strength of his soul, of his body, of his re- 
sources, they had battled together to a victory. 

Charlie’s strongest temptations had come on the recurring 
Saturday afternoons when he received his pay envelope. 
Then it was the liquor demon whispered loudest its lies into 
his ears, and when the wretched man’s appetite was lashed 
into uncontrollable desire. John had formed the habit of 


28 


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meeting Charlie on these afternoons and accompanying him 
home. The habit had changed gradually to that of drop- 
ping in at any time on Saturday evenings for a word of fel- 
lowship and good cheer. 


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29 


CHAPTER IV 

DONALD ASHTON 
I 

On the next morning, John took his usual place in church. 
A little later Ed came in and dropped down by his friend’s 
side. 

“Old man,” quickly whispered Ed, on catching a flash of 
recognition from Mary in the choir, “you’re an idiot if you 
don’t wake up and strike your full pace ! Why, you’re 
easily a hundred to one shot in a broken field. Mary is to 
give a reception on Thursday evening, and she openly inti- 
mated that if I did not bring a certain young man I would 
suffer her serious displeasure.” 

Mary again looked toward them and John was sure the 
shadow of a smile crossed her lovely face. How often when 
she looked in his direction he had wondered if her eyes 
were seeking his alone ! How often those daring eyes seemed 
to send a spirit message to his spirit — challenging it to come 
and claim its own ! “Dreams, dreams, only dreams !” — 
echoed in the doubting man’s thoughts, and he dared not 
seek the truth ! 

Mary was on the program for a solo, and when she arose 
to sing, she did so with all the care-free poise of conscious 
power. She sang with the whole of her personality; and 
with the slightest lift of her beautiful face, she could throw 
the faintest melody of her voice into the farthest corners of 
the big church auditorium. John thrilled with admiration 
as he listened — and blushed with shame at the doubting 
cowardice of his attitude toward her. 

That evening at the Young People’s Society, Mary sang 
again, and John followed on the program with a fifteen 
minute talk. The man was at his best when standing before 
an audience. The very act of rising to his feet and gazing 
into the interested faces gave him a sense of mastery and of 
magnetic power. Tonight he threw the whole of his soul 
into what he said. 

After the meeting was over Mary lingered a fleeting mo- 
ment, and turned toward him with what seemed a taunting 


challenge. John started forward quicldy, knowing it was 
quite proper for the members to speak to one another with- 
out a formal introduction, but again the irresolute man’s 
courage failed, he halted, and in a moment the girl was 
gone ! 

The troubled lover walked long that night beneath the 
quiet stars. He could not escape the taunt in his*heart of a 
cowardice which “dares not put his fortune to the test to 
win or lose it all.” 

But when at length his face was turned homeward he 
carried a new determination in his heart. He would go to 
Mary’s reception Thursday night. He would endeavor to 
meet her half way; he would enter into her circle to the 
fullest extent permissible with his deeper convictions. The 
lighter frivolities of her set he would pass over. Only to 
the daring extremes in dress, dance, drink, conversation, 
and what-not of the fashionable social set, he would not 
yield — for him there was no twilight zone of morality ! 

The next morning John went to a tailor’s and was mea- 
sured for an outfit of clothes. Though he always dressed 
with neat moderation he had nothing in his wardrobe suit- 
able to wear to Mary’s reception. For it was more than 
five years since he had worn evening dress. On Wednesday 
afternoon, in company with Ed, he dropped into the tailor’s 
again, for a trial fitting. When he was fully arrayed, his 
friend looked at him in undisguised admiration. 

“Say, pard,” exulted Ed, “I’ll stake my entire pile on you 
as a thousand to one shot !” 

“It’s as natural for me to wear these duds as it is for the 
favorite to carry the odds.” smiled John, unconsciously 
falling into his friend’s phraseology, “but I have a premoni- 
tion that when I quit the game long ago, I quit it for good. 
If I’m not mistaken, something is going to happen !” 

“There you go croaking, dod-rot-it,” cried Ed, “your case 
is as hopeless to me as mine is to you !” 

The next afternoon as John was hurrying homeward from 
a visit to a sick friend he came with a startled cry to an 
abrupt stop at a cross street. A limousine speeding toward 
him had turned suddenly and swiftly at the corner just as 
two little girls were crossing the street from the other side. 


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31 


Though the driver saw John, he evidently had failed to see 
the children until he already had thrown the wheel for the 
turn of the corner. In desperation the man threw the brakes 
in an effort to stop the big machine — but it was too late. 
The two little girls had gained the middle of the street 
directly in front of the swiftly moving car. They still might 
have escaped, had they not been holding hands, and had not 
one tried to run forward and the other to run back. The 
slight check of the hand-hold was fatal. John leaped for- 
ward to the aid of the one coming toward him — and the car 
barely missed her, but struck the one who had tried to dart 
back, knocking her to the pavement. As the heavy car 
skidded past with brakes set John saw its occupant — and it 
was Mary Ashton’s father ! Without ever having come to 
a full stop, the car sped on. 

Did Donald Ashton know that the child had been struck? 
Only Donald Ashton could tell. 

John gently picked up the broken body of the child. 
People gathered from every direction, and a doctor who was 
passing in his car got out and hurried to John’s side. After 
a hasty examination of the injured girl he looked at John 
with compressed lips and slowly shook his head. 

At this instant, a small woman dressed in black could be 
seen running toward the crowd. The message had reached 
her, and she was already sobbing, “My baby, my baby !” 
When she came to where John was holding the limp form, 
she pleaded with the doctor to tell her that her baby had not 
been killed. The physician sought to calm her by asking 
where they might carry the child. A kindly neighbor stepped 
forward and led the way to a small cottage in the middle of 
the block. 

John laid the little form on a bed ; and the doctor made a 
further examination. Just then, the ominous sound of an 
ambulance bell was heard and another doctor entered. The 
two doctors conferred in low tones ; and then the ambulance 
doctor went out, and the rapid clang of the bell was heard 
again. The mother half-divined the situation, and again she 
sobbingly pleaded with the doctor to tell her that her baby 
was not dead. The doctor told her that she must be brave, 
that her child’s life was hanging by a slender thread which 


32 


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might part at any moment. The blow was more than the 
broken-hearted woman could bear, and she fell to the floor 
in a' faint. 

John learned from the kind neighbors who had remained 
something of the history of the little family. The father 
had died more than a year before, and the widow was sup- 
porting herself and child by sewing. They rented their 
room from an elderly woman who owned the house, and who 
lived there also but was away at present. John conferred 
with the doctor, and then left, with a prescription, for a 
drug store. From there he phoned for a trained nurse, for 
the mother and not for the child. And he also phoned to 
Ed’s club, leaving word that he would be unable to keep his 
engagement for the night because of a serious accident to 
a friend. 

When he returned to the cottage, he found that the 
mother had regained consciousness, but lay now, in a half- 
stupor, moaning. The doctor stayed until the arrival of the 
nurse; when he gave his directions and left. John remained 
somewhat longer; and when he went away it was with the 
understanding that he would return in a few hours. 

When he returned to the little home a few hours later, he 
was not surprised to find that the child had breathed its last 
just a short time before. The grief of the mother was heart- 
rending. And as she was without relatives to come to her 
assistance, she was relieved for John to take charge of all 
funeral arrangements. 

ii 

On the morning following, John searched the columns of 
the daily News for an account of the accident of the after- 
noon before. There was no mention whatever of the occur- 
rence. But under the death notices was a short account of 
the death of “Viola Anders, age seven, only child of Mrs. 
Viola Anders,” whose death “followed an accident in the 
middle afternoon when she was struck and knocked to the 
pavement by an automobile.” There was no mention what- 
ever of the names of either the owner or the driver of 
the car. 

At ten-thirty that morning, John called at the offices of 
Donald Ashton. Besides being president of the First 


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33 


National Bank, Ashton was interested actively in a score of 
other enterprises and had a magnificent suite of offices on 
the second floor of the First National Bank Building. When 
John stepped out of the elevator, it was to see possibly fifty 
employes railed off into groups of threes and fours. He 
spoke to a young woman close by who seemed to anticipate 
that he would address her. 

“I would like to see Mr. Ashton.” 

“I am sure that you cannot see Mr. Ashton; he is very 
busy. You will have to see one of his secretaries.” 

“But my business is with Mr. Ashton personally.” 

“I know, but you will have to see one of his secretaries.” 

“Then I will call again,” he answered as he turned away. 

He was determined, if possible, to see Donald Ashton in 
person, to ascertain if he was aware that his car had struck 
the Anders child; to tell him o* her subsequent death, and 
to learn from him what he purposed to do in the matter. 

John was concerned in more ways than one. The utter 
disregard of the wealthier automobile owners in the city 
for the safety of pedestrians had reached a point where even 
grown people crossed the streets at the peril of their lives. 

Little Viola’s body was buried early that afternoon. John 
and a few neighbors attended the funeral. The mother’s 
grief was beyond control, and she fainted as the casket was 
being lowered into the grave. When she was carried home, 
John sent the nurse with her, with directions to remain as 
long as necessary. 

He called again at the offices of Donald Ashton that 
afternoon, and spoke to the same young woman. 

“Is it possible for me to see Mr. Ashton on a matter of 
personal business?” 

“You will not be able to see Mr. Ashton without first 
seeing one of his secretaries.” 

“Then kindly direct me to one of his secretaries.” 

The young woman indicated a door down the aisle and, 
following her directions, he found himself in the presence 
of one of Donald Ashton’s secretaries. 

“Would it be possible for me to see Mr. Ashton on a 
matter of personal business ?” 

“You will have to give me your name and state the 


3 


34 


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nature of your business. I will then see if Mr. Ashton de- 
sires to grant you an interview.” 

“Please say to Mr. Ashton that the little girl who was 
struck by his automobile yesterday afternoon subsequently 
died from her injuries and was buried this afternoon. I 
want to see Mr. Ashton on behalf of the mother of the 
child; my name is John Trainor.” 

The secretary left the office, to return in a few minutes. 

“Mr. Ashton says that he carries liability insurance, and 
that you will have to consult his attorneys, Hartman, Brock, 
Mill & Jones.” 

John returned to the street below*, raging inside like a 
volcano. 

“Liability insurance indeed ! Commit murder, and let an 
insurance company pay the fine !” 

Liability insurance had settled the bill on that occasion 
when he had been struck by an automobile and had lain for 
weeks in a hospital in pain and suffering. The memory of 
those days was surging in his brain when he stepped onto 
the pavement to cross over Main Street. And then, as 
though a Nemesis automobile was pursuing him, a large 
auto truck dashed around the corner, and he had to spring 
forward for his life. With the impetus gained in springing 
forward, he hurried on, determined on the course he felt it 
his duty to pursue. He hurried to the office of the chief of 
police. On numbers of occasions before he had been to the 
police station in behalf of both men and women and he w^as 
well acquainted with the chief. 

“Chief, I w^ant to know if there is any penalty for mur- 
dering a citizen on the streets of our city?” 

“Whom are you thinking about murdering, John?” 

“Pm thinking about being murdered, Chief ; every time I 
cross one of our streets it is at the risk of being killed by 
some reckless automobile driver.” 

“You’re supposed to be all eyes and all ears w^hen you 
cross a city street these days, John.” 

“Is that your theory and estimate of a citizen’s rights, 
Chief?” 

“My theories come from headquarters. If I had my way 
I’d soon curb the spirits of the speed devils in this city. But 


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35 


headquarters says it’s a ‘hurrying age’ and when I ask for 
the privilege and the men and funds to stop the speeding 
they say, ‘Nothing doing. ” 

John gave a full account, of the way in which little Viola 
Anders’ death had been caused ; and of the fact that Donald 
Ashton had not stopped even to see if the child had been 
seriously hurt. 

“Is there any reason why Donald Ashton and his driver 
should not be arrested and punished as an example?” 

“Believe me, John, if I’d arrest Donald Ashton I’d lose 
my job in a jiffy. Listen.” 

The chief took the phone and called for the mayor’s num- 
ber, and when he got that official on the line he gave him 
an account of the child’s death and of the fact that John 
demanded the arrest of Donald Ashton and his driver as a 
warning to other reckless automobilists. 

The mayor gave his answer which John did not hear. 
But just before hanging up the receiver the chief said to 
the mayor : 

“And so you think I’m ‘nuts,’ do you?” 

As the chief turned toward John, a young man who had 
been sitting in a corner of the room with several others got 
up and hurried from the office. 

“John, if you’d swear out a warrant against Donald Ash- 
ton it wouldn’t amount to a frazzling thing; and if you went 
to the district attorney with such a grave charge as negligent 
homicide you’d find in the long run that you would show 
the very thing you do not want shown ; that is, that you 
can’t make such a charge stick against a man who’s got 
money.” 

John left the chief’s office greatly disturbed and de- 
pressed with the thought : 

“As long as they do not put on the royal purple, or wear 
the visible crown and sceptre, the millionairies may rule the 
masses as they please ; and their class may continue to drive 
their chariots unchecked across the prostrate forms of the 
helpless poor !” 

hi 

“Hextra ! Hextra ! Murder ! All about de murder !” 

Hardly had John been away from the chief’s office an 


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hour when he heard the newsboys' cries. He bought a paper 
and was confronted by the glaring headlines : 

“BANKER ACCUSED OF MURDER! MAYOR 
FORBIDS CHIEF OF POLICE MAKING ARREST !” 

Following this heading was a graphic account of the way 
in which little Viola Anders had been struck by the auto- 
mobile of Donald Ashton; of the fact that the latter had 
not stopped even to render her aid; of her subsequent 
death; of John Trainor’s demand for the arrest of Donald 
Ashton; and of the mayor's refusal to permit the chief of 
police to make the arrest. 

Of course, every incident was overdrawn, and the account 
was wholly inaccurate in its statement of most of the facts ; 
but what difference did that make to the evening paper when 
it had recognized an opportunity for striking a blow at the 
Administration ? 

John was startled when he first glanced at the headlines; 
but as he read on, he pressed his lips grimly. 

“It seems I've stirred things up different from what I’d 
expected, but I can stand it if the rest can. And it mayhaps 
mean the saving. of the life of some other child.” 

About an hour afterward he drove out to the cottage to 
see Mrs. Anders. As he reached the house, another car left. 
He found the mother somewhat recovered from her shock, 
and very much calmer. 

“I am sorry that you did not get here a little sooner,” she 
said to him, “a gentleman was here just before you came 
who stated that he was an adjuster, I believe, for an insur- 
ance company. He was very kind, and said that his com- 
pany would pay the doctor and all expenses. He claimed 
that the gentleman in the automobile did not know even that 
his car had struck my poor baby.” 

“He had you sign some paper, I presume?” John in- 
quired. 

“Oh, yes, he had me sign a paper saying that they were 
not to blame. He said, which is true, that of course I would 
not want to go into court about my baby’s death.” 

John made every effort to suppress the feeling aroused 
by this account of the dastardly meanness of the adjuster in 
hurrying out, perhaps after reading the newspaper account, 


THE SERVERS 


37 


and taking advantage of the helpless woman who already 
had been robbed of her dearest treasure. 

He did not wish to cause the wretched woman any fur- 
ther wounds, but at length he said : 

“You are right; you would not want the matter dragged 
into the courts. But in the effort to protect the lives of 
other little children, I went to the chief of police and de- 
manded the arrest of those responsible for the death of your 
child; and you will be reading in the papers something of 
the noise I have stirred.” 

“Oh, I had not thought of the safety of other children,” 
replied the mother, with a sudden quiet firmness. “I have 
been unable to think clearly since my poor baby’s death. 
Yes, the streets are very dangerous for children; yet, they 
must be on them.” And she added, with sudden emotion : 

“Ah, if they only could know what it means to rob a 
mother of her child; if they only could know how empty it 
leaves the world to her; Oh, if I just had had riches that 
they might have taken, and have left me my baby!” 

John could realize the mother’s sorrow. For her, life held 
no further meaning ; the vista of the years opened out ahead 
in loneliness and wretchedness; her treasures were all in 
another world, and she was alone here without purpose or 
interest ! 

“I am sure that I have no power in words to offer you 
consolation,” he exclaimed, “but I have a deep feeling that 
life yet holds a great purpose for you ; and I want to pledge 
you my every help in finding that purpose.” 

“You already have helped me more than any words or 
deeds of mine can ever repay,” Mrs. Anders replied. “Had 
it not been for the kindness of yourself and of this dear 
girl,” — she tightened her arm around the waist of the nurse 
who sat by her side — “I am sure I could not have with- 
stood the blow.” 

The next morning, John searched the pages of the daily 
News, curious to see what that paper would have to say 
about the matter featured in the Journal extra. Only two 
short items appeared : One was a signed statement by Don- 
ald Ashton setting forth that the car was not being driven 
at a rapid rate; that he had not even known that the little 


38 


THE SERVERS 


child had been struck; and that the accident had been 
wholly unavoidable by his driver, and that the mother had 
admitted its unavoidableness on their part by signing a 
written waiver of damages. The other item was a signed 
statement by the driver of the car asserting that he was not 
driving fast, and that the accident could not have been 
avoided. 

The Evening Journal, however, had its front page full of 
sensational new matter. The mayor had jumped on the 
chief of police for having pulled such a “bone-head, ” and 
had done it so vigorously that the chief had flared back 
with a demand that he be permitted to enforce the laws of 
the city which were being violated on every hand. The 
mayor had retorted with a demand for the chief’s resig- 
nation ; this the latter had refused, demanding that the whole 
matter be threshed out before the City Council. 


THE S ERVERS 


39 


CHAPTER V 

“in BUSINESS FOR CHRIST, WHY NOT?” 

I 

Ed had missed his friend everywhere, and did not see him 
until Sunday morning at church. As he dropped down by 
John’s side, he whispered : 

“You were right, old man ; you are a true prophet of your 
own destiny; you had quit the other game, but it seems 
you’ve jumped into a new one!” 

John smiled, but did not reply. He was watching in- 
tently as the singers filed in and took their seats. Mary 
did not appear — and for once he was not sorry. He still 
held the troubled memory of how she had appeared to him 
in his dreams the night before. He had spent a miserable 
uneasy night, with automobiles and newspapers mixed, in 
phantom forms, in his brain; and in the midst of the jumble 
of faces and forms, he clearly saw Mary, bending over the 
body of a little child, and weeping as though her heart would 
break. And then, he would see her again, with her face full 
of scorn, her finger pointing at him as though to drive him 
from her presence, as she cried: “Murderer! You have 
murdered my father !” And so he had tossed the hours of 
the night away. But in the morning he had felt no sense 
of fatigue — for he suddenly had become nerved with the 
restless energy of a strong, new purpose ! 

After the services, he and Ed slipped our quietly. He 
did not want to mingle with the crowd when he knew what 
was most likely the topic of their conversation. 

“Ed,” he said as they walked away, “I have stirred a fuss 
I had not intended and it is one with which I shall have 
little further concern. But the events of the past few days 
have helped me to find myself — and it is a blessed thing 
when a man achieves that. For the past few years 1 have 
been without a definite plan of action, without a set purpose ; 
and when a man’s without a definite chart ahead, he’s wholly 
without courage and without strength. I have been a cow- 
ard and a weakling. I’ve had a vision, but have not been 
true to it, I have not had the courage to fail. For two 


40 


THE SERVERS 


years, I’ve had a purpose in mind, but have not had the 
courage to put it to a test. In fact, I have not dared to risk 
failure before the eyes of Mary Ashton ! But now, I have 
thrown caution to the winds, if you choose, and I shall move 
on in my purpose without further doubt or quibble. I have 
determined to go into business for Christ.” 

“What-d-ye mean, John? I don’t understand such a 
statement! Have you some new scheme of social reform?” 

“I mean just what I said, Ed; I am going in business for 
Christ, why not? Why not serve the Christ in the counting 
house as well as in the pulpit, or in the mission field? If a 
man be born with efficiency but without eloquence, shall he 
not serve the Christ because he cannot preach? Or, if a 
man be born with a genius for organization, with great busi- 
ness acumen, but without a desire to go to Asia or to Africa, 
shall he still not serve the Christ? And if a man decides to 
serve Christ in business, why not serve Him openly and 
avowedly and one-purposed?” 

“Well, John, that certainly puts it up to a fellow !” 

“I’m sick of a ‘one-day’ religion, Ed ! A religion that’s 
so utterly detached from the vital affairs of man’s Monday 
through Saturday life ! I’m tired of seeking the sanctuary 
of these gilded edifices on Sundays for the pretended wor- 
ship of a God of love and mercy and humanism, and then — 
always — on Monday plunging into a mad materialism that 
knows no God but one of greed and gold, and that has no 
place for the divine attributes of love and mercy and human 
brotherhood ! My passion is to serve Christ and His great 
Cause seven days out of every week! And yet, structur- 
ally, I am a practical man ; and my service, though springing 
from idealism, must deal with real and vital things. There- 
fore, I have determined that the most practical way I can 
serve the Christ is to go into business for Him. And why 
not? Is there not a call to the work? I see wrongs to be 
righted. I see children, God’s own little children, dying in 
the dust of the streets and in the turmoil of the factories. I 
see women, young women, born in the image of the Virgin 
Mother, groveling in the shame of the lust and greed of 
men. And I see men, old and young, with bended backs and 
broken bodies — pitiful by-products of this our selfishly com- 


THE SERVERS 


41 


petitive age! And I see my duty, Ed, as clear as a flash 
of light from Heaven !” 

“I do not fully grasp your idea, John; but I have faith 
in you.” 

“And I have faith in the passion of men for the service 
of their fellows !” 

The two parted without further mention of the subject. 
That night, John was at church again, but Mary Ashton 
was not; nor was Ed. 

ii 

During the next few days, John did not make any defi- 
nite move in the way of carrying out his plans other than to 
arrange his thoughts in order, and to go over in his mind 
a list of those close friends who, he knew, would at least 
give his plans their earnest and serious consideration. He 
had formed many warm friendships during the two years 
he had been in the city ; it was natural for him to form close 
associations for he was one always to be found near to a 
friend's side during any crisis; and crisis-sharing comrades 
are the ones we love deepest, and are the ones we take into 
our daily lives. 

By the middle of the week John had settled upon his 
course. He had determined on the first friend before whom 
he would spread his plans. He knew what it would mean 
to him to have his proposition received with quick interest 
and enthusiasm, and he chose to go to the person whom he 
felt would be surest to grasp the vital worth of his idea. 

He did not come to a decision without a strong wrestle 
with his fears and doubts; for, had he a single friend to 
whom he could go in full confidence that his plan would be 
received with favor? Wouldn’t it be considered, after all, 
a wild, visionary plan wholly impractical? And would not 
that be what his friends would think and would say? But 
what did he think? Did he believe it practical? Did he 
have faith? Aye, there’s the rub! Have we faith in our 
ideas ! It matters not what the world thinks or says or 
believes. God has decreed that we must live by Faith. 
And we are the sole arbiters of that faith. If we have faith 
we can plant our backs to the solid wall, and laugh, as the 
world smiles its scorn or howls its jeers. We need only to 


42 


THE SERVERS 


stand fast in our faith, and to live or die with the assurance 
that tomorrow the world will worship and applaud the idea 
that yesterday it jeered and scorned. What a mighty liberty 
this gives us ! What a tremendous freedom to know that 
our own faith is the sole, the absolute, the final arbiter of 
our destiny! Christ on the cross ! Peter in prison ! Colum- 
bus on the seas ! Luther with his back to the wall ! And 
faith in their hearts ! “To dare !” cried Danton, “To dare 
again! Always to dare!” Which, interpreted, means: To 
have faith ! To have faith again ! Always to have faith ! 
And thus is answered the query, “Are courage and faith 
synonymous?” 

After a final wrestle with his own faith in his plan, John 
decided that Harrison Nelms was the friend to whom he 
would go first. He knew that Harrison Nelms had a mighty 
passion for the uplift of his fellows, and that it might be 
said of him already that he was “in business for Christ.” 
And yet, it was not without a quickening of the pulse and 
a pounding of the heart that John set out to outline the idea. 

“How’s business these days, Harrison?” he began in 
greeting. 

“We can’t complain, John; we get our share of the trade 
in this neighborhood.” 

“It occurs to me it might truly be said, Harrison, that 
you are ‘in business for Christ.’ ” 

“Right you are, John, I am in business for Christ. For 
more than five years now I have labored in this store on 
week days while preaching to the poor on Sundays.” 

“I would like to talk to you about a new week-day work 
for the Master. Can you spare the time?” 

“Sure; Mr. Ackman will watch the store; come right back 
here,” the other replied, leading the way to a pair of side- 
steps. 

John unfolded his plans, going into details and reaching 
far into the future with what he hoped to accomplish. As 
he developed his idea he could feel his friend’s interest 
growing, and when he had concluded, Harrison said, en- 
thusiastically : 

“I grasp the possibilities of your plan at once, John, and 
believe they are unlimited. I’m willing to join with you 


THE S ER VERS 


43 


heart and soul. And I have a friend who will be glad to 
join in such a great undertaking, I am sure. And what’s 
more, when you think it advisable we can buy out this 
business any day.” 

“Great, Harrison, great!” exclaimed John. “You com- 
municate with your friend at once and bring him to my 
room tonight. I am now going to see Roger Martin.” 

John drove away rejoicing, feeling that a crisis had been 
passed. Another had faith as well as himself ! Ah, that is 
the supreme test of our faith: has it the power, as it passes 
without our souls and touches the souls of others, to set 
those souls throbbing, now or ultimately, with the same 
brave purpose? 

As he drove along with a smile on his lips and songs 
stirring in his heart he felt fired and flushed with all the 
exhilaration of victory ! Had he been out the country high- 
way, he would have thrown wide-open the gas throttle and 
in a wild, wind-splitting burst of speed have endeavored to 
give adequate vent to the great surge of purpose and energy 
welling up within him. Not since his college days had he 
so felt the wild, unrestrained joy of living — of living to do, 
-to dare, to fight, to feel the hot breath of comrades fighting 
by his side ! 

Ah, now we are standing on the craggy mountain-top, sil- 
houetted against the purple and blue immensity of a sum- 
mer’s sky ! The winds are whipping our garments and toss- 
ing our locks causing us, as w^e brace ourselves, to feel a 
stir of conscious power. ’Tis life to feel the caress, the 
press, of the passing winds ! ’Tis life to look down, far 
down, at the green and silver of the valleys and streams 
below ! ’Tis life to look far out across the valleys and rivers 
and hills and lesser mountains and watch the red splendor 
of the setting sun ! ’Tis life to look up at the reflected 
glory on the clouds and to glimpse the proud sweep of an 
eagle soaring beneath the darkening blue of the skies ! 

Yes, today we are on the mountain-tops full of faith and 
hope and high-purpose, and are gripped with conscious 
power. God knows we are strong when we are on the 
mountain-tops; but there is a time when we are even 
stronger. 


44 


THE SERVERS 


Tomorrow, we are down, far down, on the jagged rocks 
below, with torn hands and bleeding feet, and pressing on 
in the teeth of a winter’s gale with its chorus of regrets. 
But we press on to the end, e’en though it be death, for our 
hearts are nerved with a triumphant purpose ! 

Figuratively speaking, John was driving along the heights 
when he saw Mary Ashton come flashing toward him in 
her big car. He caught a quick look in her eyes as she 
passed and then, he faced down the mountain-side — willing 
to go smash at the bottom ! The smile died off his lips,, the 
songs ceased in his heart, and he drove on in “the teeth of 
a winter’s gale” — yet still in the dogged pursuit of a tri- 
umphant purpose ! 

He found Roger Martin at home as he thought he would, 
and with his spirits re-enthused by the remembrance of his 
success with Harrison Nelms, he confidently outlined his 
plans. 

Roger Martin was a thorough-going church man, but he 
had very little of the visionary about him. He listened to 
John’s novel plan of service with evident interest, but his 
sympathies were wholly unaroused. 

“Your plan is strong in many ways, John, but it is weak 
in many others.” 

“But don’t you think the weak points are to be humanly 
expected?” urged John, “and that they would not be neces- 
sarily fatal to the ultimate success of the plan?” 

“I am afraid not,” declared Roger, “one weakness surely 
would condemn it to failure; the very value of the plan 
would bring ultimate disaster.” 

“What do you mean, Roger?” 

“I mean that success undoubtedly would bring a division 
of opinion and, therefore, fatal discord.” 

“Fore-warned is fore-armed, Roger; we would discipline 
ourselves to meet all such anticipated dangers.” 

Roger shook his head ominously. 

“Vanity of opinion, selfishness, vaulting ambition, would 
be fatal to your plan, John.” 

“But organizations of every kind and character, and serv- 
ing every purpose, have existed from time immemorial,” 
argued John. “Why not a Service organization enabling 


THE SERVERS 


45 


its members to live efficiently, and effectively to serve their 
day and time?” 

“I haven’t the faith, John; I can’t see it.” 

John drove away with his spirits dampened, but with his 
own faith still firmly set. The evening was drawing to a 
close, and he debated whether or not to return home or to 
test the faith of another friend. Like the man in the pulpit, 
he thirsted for one more convert, and so he drove to the 
home of Carl Minton. 

“Glad to find you here, Carl,” he said with a warm smile, 
“I thought I would at this hour.” 

“You are just in time for lunch, John.” 

Carl Minton was a widower, and lived at a private board- 
ing house. His present employment was as bookkeeper and 
cashier for a large lumber concern. He had, however, had 
other varied business experience. He was a taciturn sort 
of fellow, but John knew he had a heart of gold and a 
passion for the uplift of his submerged fellows. 

After luncheon John quickly outlined the project that had 
brought him there — adding that Harrison Nelms had em- 
braced the plan with enthusiasm. 

“It seems to me, John, that your plan simply is one of 
practical Socialism on a small scale.” 

“Not a bit of it, Carl,” declared John, smiling at his 
friend’s conception of Socialism. “My plan simply is one 
of practical Service on a large scale.” And he added in a 
tone of prophecy : “The achievement of political Socialism 
would be a wonderful step forward, but it would not be the 
final achievement. There is something beyond Socialism. 
There is a higher note to be uttered. The dawn of the 
perfect day will not break until that good time when all 
men everywhere are fully imbued with the ideals of the 
Unselfish Man : until each individual realizes that his own 
highest good lies in his unselfish — if need be sacrificial — - 
service of all.” 

“Your plan is based, then, on the Communism of the 
early Christians; and that proved a failure, did it not?” 

“Not at all, Carl ; my plan is not based on the Communism 
of the early Christians, but is based on the known effective- 
ness of the spirit of co-operation of these later days. Be- 


46 


THE SERVERS 


sides, Carl, failure is too strong a term to use in connection 
with something we know as little about as we know of the 
economic life of the early Christians. And even if some 
attempts at economic adjustment have proved a failure, it 
does not alter the fact that failures sometimes are the 
stepping-stones to ultimate success. For instance, let us be- 
lieve that our American Republic will endure in spite of the 
failure of other republics in the past.” 

“But can you mix business and religion, John?” 

“It is not a question of mixing business and religion, Carl, 
although in reality they should not be divorced. We- shall 
not be concerned with the religion of the members of our 
organization. We shall be concerned only with their Chris- 
tian ideality ; only with giving their Christian idealism real- 
istic activity.” . 

“Your phrases interest me exceedingly, John. My whole 
later life has been a dismal groping in an endeavor to give a 
realism to my intense Christian idealism. But every attempt 
at practicability has been a keen disappointment ; even the 
practicabilities of the church I love so well are based too 
often on un-Christian ethics. I am afraid I have become 
a sick and tired Christian pessimist !” 

“Then more of Christian activity is the very thing you 
need, Carl.” 

“Yes, but surely sterner activity than in a missionary 
society !” 

“I know your feeling, old man,” replied John sadly, “it 
has been mine, too. Life to me is real and stern. It is an 
intense conflict; but one in which I seem just now to play 
no worthy part. I stand, as it were, on the outer edge of 
Society, and watch, with breaking heart, the gigantic strug- 
gle going on. What an awful, awful sight it is ! What a 
dreadful reality it is ! I see the wounded, and the broken 
and blinded and the diseased ! I see the poor there, and the 
hungry. How they plead for bread — and are given stones ! 
Babes suckle at dry breasts ! And how gaunt and bony and 
terrible Hunger is ! A grinning monster, with eyeless sock- 
ets that haunt me as I kneel and pray: ‘Father, give us this 
day our daily bread.’ And to think there are some who do 
not know how to pray — and they starve before my eyes ! 


THE SERVERS 


47 


‘Why does not the Father feed them?’ I ask. Then I see 
it, Carl. I see the bread. I see it in our homes ; I see it in 
our bakeries ; in our stores. And then I remember how the 
four Gospels read : ‘And He took the seven loaves and the 
fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to His 
disciples , and the disciples to the multitude.’ The Father 
has given us the bread, but, alas, we do not give it to the 
multitude — which starves before our eyes, Carl ! And the 
terrible conflict goes on. I see the fortunate and the pros- 
perous racing by in their carriages; and they do not stop 
save to make secure the locks on their bulging granaries. 
They are blind to the wasted and phantom forms of the poor 
flocking about their granary doors, and to the others falling 
prostrate beneath their carriage wheels. They do not hear 
the dismal groans of the dying. But I hear them, by the day 
and by the night. And mixed with these awful sounds, I 
hear the wild revelries of the wanton and the rich. I see 
their wonderful palaces of pleasure ! And then, on the other 
hand, are the hideous hovels of dirt and disease and death 
in which dwell my other brothers and sisters and over which 
is brooding the mourning daughter of Misery ! 

“And there ring in my ears the incessant, thunder sounds 
of Industry. Before me I see belching volumes of black 
smoke and soot arising from white-hot furnaces which make 
possible such thunderous activities. From out of this pois- 
onous mass, I see rising a giant figure, with grimy visage set 
hard and muscular right arm grasping a mighty sword — 
Labor personified ! Across, in the near distance, rises an- 
other huge figure, with mighty sword in hand. It is Capital 
personified ! The two monsters measure blades : and the 
terrible conflict seems inevitable and irrepressible ! Scat- 
tered in the distance, and rising only knee high to the two 
towering figures, I see the red chimneys of homes and the 
white spires of churches. In these Love is struggling to 
abide! Standing impotent on the outer rim of the scene, I 
watch, and weep, and mourn. I close my eyes and see con- 
flicts between other mighty figures. What a torture to watch 
that incessant, uncertain, awful struggle of death between 
those mightiest of all giants, personified Good and personi- 
fied Evil i How uncertain is the issue !• And what a pigmy 


48 


THE SERVERS 


am I ! And yet, I close my eyes and there rises before me 
that Giant of all Giants ! the umpire of every conflict, and 
master of all ! It is the figure of the Christ ! The figure 
fades : and I see myself ! and I see you, Carl ! We are parts 
of the composite Christ! Though, individually, we are pig- 
mies, as parts of the composite Christ, we are mighty 
Davids ! 

“And so, my good friend, I beg you now not to stand, as 
a pigmy and a pessimist, on the outer edge of life’s conflict 
and play no great part. Come, join with us, and as a com- 
ponent part of our organization, you will become a David 
and will, no doubt, as you cross the fields of life, slay many 
Goliaths of Evil.” 

“Your plea is irresistible, John, and it admits of only one 
answer !” 

The two men gripped hand, and, entering John’s car, they 
drove away immediately to meet the others. 

hi 

It was an eager, earnest coterie of men who gathered that 
evening for the first time to plan how they best might devote 
their lives to the service of their fellows. They spent much 
time in animated discussion, and in glowing anticipation of 
the great future that seemed to open before them. But at 
length they entered into a serious consideration of definite 
plans. 

“It appears that, between us, we have fifteen hundred dol- 
lars in cash,” their leader said, “and that Carl is drawing a 
salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per month, and I am 
drawing a salary of one hundreds dollars, with half of my 
time for my own. I suggest we use the cash to purchase 
the business where Harrison works, and that, for the pres- 
ent, Carl and I retain our positions in order to bring in 
needed funds for future developments.” 

“We can buy the business for a thousand dollars cash, 
John, and the balance in notes, payable as I choose to make 
them. Mr. Ackman will be glad to sell to me on such terms.” 

“All the better, Harrison, that will leave us five hundred 
dollars toward the purchase of another business. As I un- 
derstand it, your store is the only cash grocery in your 
section of the city, ‘is it not?” 


THE SERVERS 


49 


“Yes, I think it is.” 

“What name would we operate under, John?” interrupted 
Carl. 

“I went into that more fully with Harrison than with 
you,” replied John. “The ‘Service Stores Company’ seems a 
very apt name. We can designate the stores as Service 
Store No. i, No. 2, etc. Of course, there are many parts 
of my plan that will have to be developed as we go along, 
for I have many ideas that are still a little hazy. The basic 
rock of the plan, however, all of you understand, and I have 
faith that we will be able to meet any situations which 
may arise.” 

“Is it your idea that, when our number increases, we 
shall wear some distinctive uniform?” inquired Harrison 
Nelms. 

“No, it is not,” replied John; “that would savor too much 
of a herd movement and philosophy; whereas, we will not 
want to do anything that will tend to dull the individuality 
of our members. Undoubtedly, clothes affect the spirit; 
and it is my belief that our members should be encouraged 
to clothe themselves in garments bespeaking a strong and 
virile faith; and this must be in garments tending to set 
forth each individual’s greatest beauty and strength.” 

“What rule shall guide us, John, in regulating our ex- 
penditures for individual wants?” 

“The Golden Rule, Harrison ; or, if you will, a spirit of 
equity. While we are so few we need fear no trouble, and 
I am confident there will be none even when we have become 
many. The Servers as a business entity will care for these 
problems and deal with them in a practical way. Careful 
bookkeeping will disclose the money withdrawals of each 
individual ; and if one should be found claiming more than 
their energies were contributing, it would be time to ques- 
tion their good faith. As I have expressed to you already, 
it is my conviction that each member should be expected and 
encouraged to meet their needs one hundred per cent in the 
way of food and raiment. We must strive to develop our 
greatest potentialities and groom ourselves to be fit for the 
noble undertaking that is ours.” 

“I want to discuss with you the matter of our bookkeep- 

4 


50 


THE SERVERS 


ing, John,” spoke up Carl Minton, who had volunteered to 
do this work while its volume was small. “I am sure we 
will want a system that will meet every demand of business 
efficiency.” 

“Right you are, Carl. ‘Service’ and ‘Efficiency’ must be 
our slogans. We must build our organization from the very 
bottom on a sound business foundation.” 

After definitely deciding that Harrison should early the 
next day take up the matter of buying out Mr. Ackman, the 
four men adjourned their first meeting — with ardent feeling 
that great days were ahead in the way of common service 
and common fellowship ! Already, they were beginning to 
feel the intense enthusiasm of the crusader, the invigorating 
strength of the pioneer, the pilgrim. Their task was a large 
one. No less than to harness idealism to practical things. 
No less than to make the earth a new dwelling place for 
beauty and brotherhood, for order, for music, for love and 
light and spiritual joy! 


THE SERVERS 


51 


CHAPTER VI 

SERVICE STORE NO. I 
I 

The next day after the meeting in his room, John drove 
out to see Mrs. Anders. He had kept in touch with her 
through one of her neighbors with whom he found he was 
well acquainted. She was bearing up bravely but was in 
deep sorrow. 

“I am very glad to see you,” she greeted him when she 
opened the door. 

“I have come to invite you to go riding with me,” he said, 
“for I wish to ask you about your plans.” 

As they drove along he led her to talk of what she pro- 
posed to do. 

“I have no plans for the future, none whatever,” she 
insisted sadly. “I do not see where I shall get the strength 
or the courage to do anything. But I am sure that I shall 
not be able to sew again through the long hours- with my 
baby’s face constantly before me.” 

“The most difficult thing in the world for us is to live 
and to labor for ourselves alone,” John said to her. “It is 
the utmost limit of desolation and is an existence unendur- 
able by those who are of an unselfish nature, while it is the 
only punishment needed by those who are selfish. Happily — 
or unhappily, shall we say — the world is full of those who 
need our help, who need that we live for them as well as for 
ourselves. And it is a gracious plan of God’s that, when we 
seek to make others happy, we fill our own cups with joy; 
when we mend the broken hearts of others, we mend our 
own broken hearts. . Such is the philosophy of some friends 
who gathered with me last evening to plan how we can best 
devote our lives to making the lives of others fuller and 
richer.” 

“Your purpose is a noble one and God will surely pros- 
per you !” 

John explained more fully what he and his friends ex- 
pected to accomplish, and how they hoped to bring it about. 

“At present there are just four of us, all bachelors, and 


52 


THE SERVERS 


we live in separate boarding places. We think we would 
like to have one home where we could live more economic- 
ally ; and I am wondering if you would entertain the idea of 
keeping house for us while we are so few? I assure you 
it would mean a great deal to us.” 

“Why, I would be more than glad to serve you in any 
way possible,” she insisted, “for I know I can never repay 
you for your kindness. And I, too, would be happier feeling 
that I was doing something for others. But, do you think 
I am competent to do what you ask?” 

“Of course you are,” exclaimed John, “for we expect so 
to help one another that any of us will be capable of doing 
most anything!” 

He rejoiced over the result of their conversation, and, 
after parting with the widow at her cottage, he drove home 
rapidly in order to do some figuring before the meeting that 
night. When he reached his room he found a note from Ed, 
and this he broke open eagerly for he was aware that his 
friend had been avoiding him of late, and he was anxious 
to discover what his continued attitude was to be. The 
message was an appointment for supper, which John hast- 
ened to keep. 

“I feared you wouldn’t receive my note in time, John,” 
Ed said when they met. “I haven’t forgotten how you failed 
to keep the last engagement I had with you.” 

“That reminds me, Ed, I have never been back to the 
tailor’s for that outfit of clothes I ordered ! I can imagine 
what he thinks of me !” 

“Neither have I seen Mary lately, John, but I also can 
fancy what she thinks of you !”' 

“Never mind, Ed, my star seems destined to travel its 
pathway unmated; but it shall, nevertheless, shine forth 
from amid a bright galaxy of good and true comrades.” 

“Well, what about the new plans of which you told me? 
Are you still seriously considering them ?” 

“We certainly are; we’ve a flying start, and I am very 
much enthused over the prospect !” 

He told his friend of the progress made, and something 
of their plans for the future. 

“Tell me, John, does not the whole question of the success 


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53 


of your undertaking depend on unselfish co-operation, and 
do you think you can count on that attitude? The men 
with whom I rub shoulders can be relied on for the closest 
sort of co-operation when there is a dividend ahead; but 
without the dollar as an incentive I do not see how you can 
expect the necessary harmony of purpose and action. ” 

“To lead men, Ed, or to successfully work with them, re- 
quires faith in men; and I have that faith. Your crowd is 
a different one from mine. Those with whom you are 
associated think wholly in terms of the dollar; those with 
whom I must contact are concerned alone for humanity. 
You are driven to your tasks each day by the urgent lash 
of the dollar; the poor among you dare not stop, for the 
dollar means their dinner ; the rich among you dare not 
pause, for the precious dollar stays with those only who 
continue to serve it. On the other hand, we shall go to our 
tasks each day with joy and unbounded enthusiasm because 
of the inspiration and fellowship of our work.” 

“But won’t you lose that dearest and most important of all 
possessions, John — your personality? Won’t you lose your 
individuality in the common task?” 

“By no means, Ed. It is for greater freedom of the indi- 
vidual that we are fighting : freedom for every one of God’s 
children to live and thrive and grow in surroundings that 
will call forth the highest and best that is in them. And in 
our common fight for that freedom we shall so plan our 
campaign that each one of us shall be called on to express 
his highest initiative and capability and consecration. But 
I laugh, Ed, when I think of you slaves of Mammon talking 
of individuality and personality ! You think you have indi- 
viduality, because in your mad onward rush for money each 
one looks out for himself while the devil looks out for the 
hindermost ! In our crowd, we are all for one, and one 
for all.” 

“Do not say ‘you,’ John; do not think I shall let your new 
venture separate us. I expect to be your first lieutenant in 
whatever you undertake.” 

John was deeply touched by the loyalty and faith of his 
friend. 


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“Do you mean it, Ed?” he said quickly. “If you do you 
will have crowned my joy of the past few days !” 

“Of course I mean it, John; it’s a big dream you have, 
and one I want to help you to realize.” 

“It requires big dreams to enable men to do big things ; 
and now that you’ve joined us, Ed, we have a fighting force 
that will not stop short of tremendous things !” 

After supper the two friends hurried to John’s room, 
where they found the other men, who were delighted to see 
and to welcome Ed, he being already well known to Harri- 
son Nelms and to Carl Minton. 

“What luck did you have with Mr. Ackman, Harrison?” 

“Just as I foretold, John; the terms are a thousand dol- 
lars cash with notes for the balance. The stock, including 
the fixtures, will hardly run over fifteen hundred dollars. 
Ackman’s never been willing to increase the stock, though 
the location really justifies a much larger one.” 

“When is he willing for us to take the business over?” 
Carl asked. 

“We can take the inventory tomorrow night, and open 
for business Saturday morning.” 

“That’s great,” exclaimed John; “and let me give you 
another important piece of news,” and he told them about 
Mrs. Anders, and of his idea that they should rent a home 
where they could all live together. 

“Of course,” he added, “it is not my belief that we should 
at any time interfere with the home life of our members. 
On the contrary, the foundation of our movement should 
rest on the solid basis of the idea of independent and happy 
homes for each family unit. However, in the beginning 
we must make many sacrifices for economy’s sake; and I 
believe that we men can live not only more cheaply but 
more pleasantly in quarters that will house us together.” 

“What sort of a place do you think we can lease or fur- 
nish with the small amount of funds remaining in our 
treasury, John?” asked Carl Minton. 

Which caused Ed to announce with a ring of gladness in 
his voice : 

“Do not forget that I shall have five hundred dollars to 
add to our capital.” 


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55 


“Well, then,” said John, “that should enable us to get a 
proper place at the start. I believe that we can buy the 
lease of the Treadwell, at the corner of Sixth and Black- 
more, which has fifty rooms and the rental of the excess 
rooms would leave our own quarters costing us but a 
nominal sum.” 

After deciding that John should investigate the matter of 
securing a lease on the Treadwell, or on some other suitable 
building, they arranged to meet the next night at Harrison's 
store, where they would all assist in taking the inventory 
of the grocery stock. 

On Saturday morning, “Service Store No. i,” opened for 
business, with Harrison Nelms and his friend in charge, 
and with all the others phoning their congratulations. 

Just a week later, all associates except Ed moved into the 
Treadwell. Ed's position with the bank required that he 
live up to a certain social standard, and it was thought best 
for him for the present to continue his connection with his 
club. Mrs. Anders was installed as housekeeper, with all 
necessary help. The large reception room was fitted up as 
a central office and meeting room. 

The treasury was now empty, but John estimated that 
with the anticipated earnings of the store and with the 
salaries of himself, Ed and Carl, they would have a monthly 
income of about five hundred dollars. 

“We will have urgent need for more capital after we take 
in the four new members tonight, Ed,” he remarked to his 
friend a few days after the opening of Store No. i. “What 
do you think of our approaching Asa Selvidge with a re- 
quest for a loan of funds?” 

“I really believe he would assist us, John, and I suggest 
that we see him at once.” 

Asa Selvidge was one of the most successful business 
men, as well as one of the most prominent philanthropists, 
in the city. He was known to be exceedingly generous in 
his gifts and endowments, but also very discriminating. 
John gave him a rapid outline of their plans. 

“But what assurance have I, Trainor, that you will make 
a success of your business enterprises? If I give you a sum 
of money to invest in goods and merchandise and the money 


56 


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is lost it will not have served any good purpose whatever; 
whereas, if I give the same sum to some charitable insti- 
tution it will begin immediately to serve a beneficent and 
lasting purpose. So you see, on the one hand my money 
will reach its end in a direct way without any risk ; while 
on the other hand it would first suffer the risk of a com- 
mercial investment.” 

“That is quite true, Mr. Selvidge,” agreed John. “At the 
same time, when you give a sum of money to a charitable 
institution the amount of your gift remains fixed; whereas, 
any money you may let us have will be constantly added to 
by its own earnings and eventually will be doubled and 
trebled.” 

“Provided your enterprises prosper,” smiled the wealthy 
man. “But you see I have no assurance that the money I 
give to you would not be totally lost.” 

“I had expected to assure you,” answered John, “that 
any money you loaned us would be secured by the margin 
of capital the rest of us have placed in our treasury.” 

“All right, my boys,” smiled the philanthropist, “I merely 
wanted to cross thoughts on the subject to know that you 
had the thing clear in your own minds. I will not ask for 
any security, but will place five thousand dollars in your 
treasury to meet the same fortune as the funds which you 
yourselves have contributed. Your noble intentions deserve 
every encouragement, and I pray that God will bless your 
undertaking.” 

When the two men reported their success to the others 
there was general rejoicing; and they decided immediately 
to open a second store. 

A favorable location was secured ; and a week later Store 
No. 2 was opened with Charlie Inman and his wife in charge.- 
The store had living quarters upstairs where the Inmans 
made their home. For some time Charlie had been earning 
only twenty dollars a week, and on this he and his family 
had been struggling to live. He really was a capable fellow, 
and had done well until sudden business reverses had led 
him to drinking. John had every faith in his recent reform- 
ation and felt that he would make a valuable member. Char- 
lie and his wife were both experienced in the grocery bus- 


THE SERVERS 


57 


iness, and they undertook their new duties with confidence 
and enthusiasm. 

After overcoming a few slight obstacles, Stores Nos. 3 
and 4 were opened not long thereafter with two other new 
members in charge. These were small establishments re- 
quiring only one man in each place; but the company now 
had a chain of four cash grocery stores, with Harrison 
Nelms doing all the buying. After these expenditures there 
still was left in the treasury a balance of fifteen hundred 
dollars, as just a short time before John, Carl and Ed, with 
great pride, had made the first monthly deposit of their 
salary checks. 

“I vote we celebrate our successes with a big supper,” 
Harrison suggested to John; “that is, if we can have any 
better one than Mrs. Anders provides us with every night.” 

Mrs. Anders truly did look after the men with watchful 
interest and care, it being her delight and endeavor to discern 
and provide for the individual and peculiar wants of each. 
And John thought that, already, he detected a special inter- 
est in the light of her eyes as she ministered to the wants of 
Harrison Nelms. Of this, however, he made no mention. 
She had for a cook a large, faithful Irish woman. 

“Of course we will celebrate with a supper, Harrison. I 
have a few friends I’d like to invite and I am sure the rest 
of you have. It will be an excellent way to bring our friends 
into touch with what we are doing and to increase our num- 
bers without the noise of general publicity.” 

The supper was held and the big dining-room rang with 
the joyous sounds of song and cheer, not boisterous, but 
happy and high-purposed. Later, when the invited guests 
went away they carried the feeling that the Servers were 
men with a mission. 

11 

On Sundays it was customary for John with his small car 
and Ed with his large one to drive the folks to their various 
churches; but on the Sunday following the supper, Carl 
Minton had John’s car and John was riding with Ed. 

A remark sprang to John’s lips several times without being 
voiced ; but at last he said : “Ed, didn’t I see you talking to 
Mary Ashton yesterday?” 


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“So you did, John. It’s not the first time I’ve seen her 
recently, but to tell you the truth I’ve been afraid to mention 
your name. If ever Mary forgives you for, as she thinks, 
having published her father as a murderer it will be only 
when she becomes convinced that you were not responsible 
for the publication . ” 

There was no answer. Each Sunday John had sat in 
church expectantly until the choir entered, and each Sunday 
his heart had grown a little heavier as Mary had failed to 
appear. Her brown eyes always had been to him the su- 
preme joy and inspiration of the services, and his hopes had 
been highly kindled by the growing visual intimacy between 
them. On those occasions when the lights had been friend- 
liest, and had shown the brown, clear depths of her eyes, he 
was certain he had read in them a deepening interest. And 
now, with her radiant face missing, he sat with a dull ache 
in his heart and a lonely desolation of soul. During the past 
few weeks his gripping interests had been in his new work, 
yet, deep beneath the surface he was beginning to realize 
that there is one interest to man that is supremely above 
all others, and that when that interest is dulled, life loses its 
zest beyond comprehension. 


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59 


CHAPTER VII 

TESTING TIME 
I 

Nearly every Social movement, whether on a small or 
large scale, has a period in which success would mean fail- 
ure ; or a period in which some degree of failure is an abso- 
lute necessity before ultimate success. Sometimes the lead- 
ers of these movements are masterful enough to foresee 
these periods and to prepare their followers for them ; but 
more often the dangers are not recognized until the move- 
ments have been overwhelmed by a premature success or 
an irremediable failure. 

The Servers presently reached a period of such dismal 
failure as threatened to overwhelm them completely. The 
whole life of their movement depended on the success of 
their business enterprises ; for without financial success, 
without the “silver bullets,” they had no possible hope of 
constructive progress, nor of successful attack on the frown- 
ing fortifications of social and industrial sin which loomed 
so large before them. 

Flushed as they were with weeks of constant planning, of 
intimate fellowship, of continual preparation for new enter- 
prises, they were loath to recognize, when things began to 
move less rapidly, that for the present they had pushed ahead 
as far as their capacities woulcl permit. They did not realize 
that from now on they would have to settle down to that 
slow progress of entrenched warfare which so sorely tries 
the souls of men. They discussed the new situation in an 
effort to analyze it. 

“Our progress from now on will not be as rapid,” Harri- 
son Nelms commented, “but it will be constantly forward. 
And with each step forward we will acquire more of that 
permanent strength which will eventually make our move- 
ment one of tremendous force in the affairs of our city.” 

“Our progress will not only be forward, Harrison,” put 
in Ed, “but I say it will be an accelerated progress. I have 
done some figuring which proves this to me. With the in- 


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come from the four stores and from our salaries reinvested 
each month our capital will be added to in ever increasing 
amounts.” 

“That is paper planning, Ed,” cautioned John smiling, 
“which is based on figures alone, without the human ele- 
ment; and it others no certainty in gauging a movement like 
ours. We may hope for the promising growth predicted by 
you and Harrison, but let us not forget that our movement 
is one founded on that spirit of crusading which is a 
spirit involving so much of human feeling as that no man can 
measure its weakness or its strength. Our optimism, though 
a virtue, may become a disease and prove disastrous. Let 
us seek, rather, to acquire that state of mental preparedness 
which will be so helpful in meeting unexpected developments 
of an unfavorable character.” 

Their leader had sensed dangers of which the others were 
not conscious. His whole soul was so centered in the move- 
ment that he studied every angle of it with ceaseless vigi- 
lance. When a competing company leased a building just 
across the street from Service Store No. i, and a little later 
another in the same block with Store No. 2, he recognized 
immediately that the business of the two Service Stores 
would be seriously crippled. He was not surprised when 
his attention was called to a decrease of sales. 

“We can’t meet their prices,” complained Harrison Nelms 
and Charlie Inman ; “with their chain of twenty stores they 
can buy so much cheaper than we that it is impossible for 
us to compete with them.” 

“Meet their prices,” John advised, “and hold the present 
volume of your business. We must keep the two stores 
open, even if we have to operate them without profit for a 
while. When we have succeeded in establishing a larger 
number of stores we will be in shape to meet their competi- 
tion.” 

“If you care to do a credit business we can secure a much 
larger trade,” suggested Charlie. “There is a class of sub- 
stantial salaried people in our neighborhood who trade al- 
most entirely on credit because they draw their salaries only 
once a month.” 

“No, we will not attempt to engage in the credit business,” 


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61 


affirmed John ; “at least, not along the lines as the other mer- 
chants. That would mean a necessary addition to our prices 
and would be inequitable to the thrifty people who pay cash. 
However, I have a comprehensive plan when our stores are 
firmly established in all parts of the city. I will not attempt 
to give you details now but the plan involves the idea of a 
central savings and small loan bank with branches in each of 
our stores. With these established, and with a systematic 
campaign of education along the lines of thrift and economy, 
we should be able to benefit not only the customers of the 
small credit stores, but to serve, and to free from thralldom, 
the patrons of those innumerable loan sharks in our city 
who so hideously but highly profit off the misfortunes and 
the weaknesses of the poor.” 

John’s plans, however, seemed likely to be deferred to 
that degree which “maketh the heart sick.” The balance 
sheets of the business done by the four stores proved more 
discouraging each subsequent week. Stores Nos. i and 2 
exhibited narrowing margins of profit even without figuring 
the labor cost of the members in charge, and considering 
this cost they showed actual losses. 

Store No. 3 had proven a poor investment and from the 
beginning its earning power had been far less than was 
anticipated. 

Store No. 4 was as disappointing as the others. And the 
member in charge of this store evidenced a decreasing in- 
terest in his work. Just the reason for this apathy John 
could not understand. While it was his policy to seek the 
close confidence of his fellow-workers in order more intelli- 
gently and sympathetically to work with them, yet, where 
this confidence was not reciprocated, he did not seek unduly 
to force it as he recognized too well his own tendency toward 
reticence to think of trespassing on this reserve in others. 

With the disappointing conditions growing steadily worse, 
however, came the urgent necessity for a closer drawing 
together of the members. And soon the comrade with the 
loss of interest felt it to be his duty to make a confession 
which he had continually postponed. With evident reluc- 
tance he announced his desire to withdraw from the band of 


62 


THE SERVERS 


Servers. The reasons he gave did not satisfy John, who 
made a last effort to ascertain the deeper motives impelling 
the action. 

“I invite your closest confidence, Harper, and will appre- 
ciate the frankest and fullest expression of your reasons. 
You can readily see what an advantage it will be to us to 
know the weak points in our movement. And you must 
realize, too, how deeply we are disappointed to lose a com- 
rade who seems equally reluctant to leave us.” 

“The Servers are loyal comrades with a noble mission, 
Mr. Trainor, and it is with deep regret that I shall cease to 
labor with you.” 

“And yet you are making a deliberate choice, Harper,” 
persisted John. 

“A deliberate choice, yes,” agreed Harper, “but it has not 
been wholly mine.” And the young fellow frankly confessed 
that his engagement to a certain young woman was contin- 
gent upon his giving up his work with the Servers and en- 
tering some business or profession of a more conventional 
kind. 

“So the young lady disapproves of our work, does she?” 
suggested John. 

“She thinks we are visionaries, and that I am wasting my 
life.” 

“And there is no hope of changing her mind ?” 

“I have made the most earnest efforts to win her to our 
way of viewing things,” declared Harper, “but she cannot, 
she will not see life as we do. Sorrow’s shadows seldom 
have darkened her pathway, and she has not learned with 
many of us that the sunshine is not all of life. I have warn- 
ed her that for every day of selfish happiness she now en- 
joys she is no doubt storing up for herself the same 
measured number of days of unhappiness.” 

“Not for herself, perhaps,” amended John, “but for some- 
one. As we sow, others reap : ’tis the law of social exist- 
ence.” 

And before the vision of the older man rose the face of 
another young woman who was sowing broadcast the seeds 
of social sorrow ; of another, who, with careless indifference, 
was dancing on the Decalogue’s dearest commands, leaving 


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63 


out of life that tremendous part which involves loving God 
and loving one’s neighbor as one’s self ! 

“And you have definitely yielded to the young woman, 
Harper?” 

“After fighting it out, yes,” doggedly admitted the young 
lover. “‘I reached the conclusion that the girl ought to come 
first.” 

John smiled at these words — and his sympathies went out 
to the other ! “The girl ought to come first !” It had been 
his own fight, and was still. And in the distressing days 
that were to follow, these words were to echo often in his 
memory. It is the unceasing conflict between Love and 
Duty. W oman obeys ; but she first must conquer uncondi- 
tionally ; and Duty, even of the highest, must capitulate. 
Yet, without pausing to count in heartaches the cost of his 
high resolve, John bravely continued to say that it should 
not be so ! Others with the cold hand of Ambition had 
swept Love aside ; why not he for Duty’s sake ? The pitiless, 
pleading hands of the many in misery clutched at his hands 
for help ; and in spite of the brown eyes of the choir which, 
even now, in memory, accused him of treason to Love’s 
highest law, he pledged himself anew that he would not, 
could not, put any one above the many ! 

John continued to face the misfortunes which were crowd- 
ing upon the movement to which he so unreservedly had 
dedicated himself. And he never dreamed that an attempted 
evasion of Love’s laws is an attempted evasion of Life’s 
laws. 

Following close upon this first withdrawal of a member, 
came the sudden serious sickness of Charlie Inman’s wife to 
add to the gloom of the workers. Mrs. Inman was a noble 
young woman and was held in the highest esteem by her 
associates who did everything possible to lessen her suffer- 
ing. They omitted no expense necessary for her proper 
comfort and care. The very expensiveness of this care, 
however, including hospital fees and the excessive cost of 
an operation, weighed heavily on the spirits of the sick 
woman and caused her to feel that she was more of a burden 
than a help to the cause she held so dear. 


64 


THE SERVERS 


“All of my. work will never make up for the huge cost of 
my illness/’ she tearfully complained. 

“Nonsense,” remonstrated one of her comrades, “our 
whole mission is one of service, and surely this includes lov- 
ing service of our own.” 

“Yes, but helping others is different from being helped 
yourself,” she faltered, “and I do not want to be the one to 
be helped.” 

They were thankful, however, that they were able to pro- 
vide her with every comfort, as well as with every necessity; 
and they had no worry about the expense. They keenly 
missed her, however, in the store where she had assisted 
her husband; and the employment of clerks proved so un- 
satisfactory, and so expensive, that it led John to a step that 
he had been feeling was necessary, and for the discussion of 
which he called a special meeting of his associates. 

At this meeting there was a distressing absence of the 
light-hearted enthusiasm of the past ; but in the faces of 
those present could be seen a serious set resolve that had 
not been there before. 

“We plunged into business on too large a scale,” announc- 
ed their leader, “and there is but one thing to do, and that is 
to retrench as best we can. It would have been far better if 
we had properly equipped and stocked the first two stores 
before opening others. It was my fault, as I was too eager 
for a chain of stores.” 

“The fault belongs to us all, John,” protested Ed; “but 
why retrench now? If the stores were adequately stocked 
do you not think they would all prove profitable?” 

“If properly stocked, perhaps,” agreed John; “but we 
haven’t the funds necessary to stock them.” 

“Can’t we borrow the money?” argued the other. 

John shook his head, replying that he did not consider it 
wise to do so. 

“I’ll sell my car, then,” generously offered Ed; “it’ll bring 
a thousand cash, I know.” 

This evoked a quick murmur of protest from all of his 
comrades ; which evidence of loyalty on the part of one to- 
ward all, and of all toward one, caused John’s heart to glow 
with pride ! 


THE SERVERS 


65 


“You need your car to hold your position,” he reminded 
his friend, “and your salary means as much to us as the 
present combined income of the four stores. But there will 
be other sacrifices we can make, and must make, if we are 
to succeed. If we are not willing to face many months of 
slow progress, many months of plugging ahead little by little, 
and often by sacrificing our pleasures and inclinations, then 
we are not made of the stuff of success, and are not worthy 
the great cause of which we are the champions !” 

“We are worthy,” solemnly protested Harrison Nelms, 
and the decisive “Amen !” which rang from the others caus- 
ed their leader’s heart to thrill once again with admiration 
for the loyalty of men ! 

With the deepest reluctance the doors of Store No. 3 
were closed. This backward step bore heavily on the enthu- 
siasm of the little band of workers, requiring that they put 
on the bravest front in order to meet the situation with a 
show of seeming cheery indifference, if not satisfaction. 

In the months that followed, every selfish or artificial de- 
sire of each individual member gave way before a concerted 
effort to live as economically as possible in order that every 
penny of savings, of earnings and salaries might go toward 
increasing the stocks of merchandise in the stores. Self- 
denials were cheerfully made ; and many sacrifices of pleas- 
ure, of privileges and pride, proved these select few to be 
worthy cross-bearers in the crisis days of what they earn- 
estly believed to be a great new movement. 

And their self-denials and sacrifices were not in vain. As 
the remaining stores increased in size, they gradually became 
the substantial trade centers of their respective neighbor- 
hoods ; and, best of all, they began to yield profits which 
handsomely rewarded their owners for every privation en- 
dured. 

11 

While these trying days were passing, one incident oc- 
curred that caused the pulse of John Trainor to throb with 
considerably greater selfish life-interest than he was wont to 
permit himself. Ed surprised him by suddenly remarking 
one day : 

“Mary inquired about you this morning, John.” 

5 


66 


THE SERVERS 


“So I imagine,” scoffed the other with little belief. 

“Well, if she didn’t ask I told her about you anyway. She 
wanted to know how Ed was and what Ed was doing, and I 
proceeded to tell how John Trainor was and what John was 
doing. And as long as I was telling about John she was 
content to listen, but when I commenced talking about my 
insignificant self she quickly changed the subject.” 

On the Sunday following Mary reappeared in the choir, 
for the first time since the “murder” extra had created its 
stir in city politics. John’s heart bounded when she came in, 
and the services took on a new interest and a new meaning 
to him. He caught her eyes a number of times, but in them 
could read no message; she looked straight toward him 
without seeming to see him. He wondered sadly if he had 
passed wholly without the bounds of her interest — except 
as the one who had maligned her father ! He might have 
indulged his hopes in the slight revelation of interest which 
she had manifested in her recent conversation with Ed ; 
but John Trainor was rapidly becoming a fatalist in the 
matter of the affairs of his heart. His frequent remem- 
brance of his earlier experience in the West served only 
to fix his conviction that it was to be his fortune never to 
know the joy of domestic felicity. He carried in his heart 
the woes of the world — was there room set aside for the 
adoration, the blissful idolatry, of the one apart from the 
many? Stoically, he stifled all such false hope, and 
heroically set his face the other way. The road he was to 
travel was, in this respect, an outcast road, and solitary, 
where one feeds on one’s own heart ! 


THE SERVERS 


67 


CHAPTER VIII 

SERVICE MOVIE AND SERVICE MISSION 

I 

The months of generous sacrifice and of persistent atten- 
tion to every detail which tended toward the success of their 
movement welded the little band of crusaders into a firm 
fraternity, and also securely established their business en- 
terprises on a permanent and profitable basis. Their earn- 
ings rapidly accumulated in the treasury, and as they were 
now certain of a definite minimum income each month, they 
were eager to undertake new ventures. 

“We have an opportunity which I do not think should be 
passed by,” their leader said at one of their meetings. “I 
have information which leads me to believe we can purchase 
at a very reasonable price the Rex moving picture theatre 
on Main Street. There is discord in the present manage- 
ment, and I am sure of their desire to sell. As you know, 
the Rex is one of the most popular show houses in the city, 
and I believe it’s a paying proposition. Besides, it will mean 
our first step toward the control of the amusements of the 
crowd.” 

“Who would you expect to run the show, John?” inquired 
Ed. 

“Eve talked it over with Carl, and he thinks he can run it 
without any trouble. Also, this plan will give him more 
time for the keeping of our central set of books, the burden 
of which has been growing as our enterprises have in- 
creased.” 

“Eve never had a free movie ticket in my life,” exclaimed 
one of the members, “and, therefore, I vote that we buy the 
show at once.” 

Everyone laughed at the quaint way in which the propo- 
sition was justified, and in the general discussion which fol- 
lowed, it developed that the consensus of opinion was that 
the purchase of the show would be not only a good business 
step, and a departure in the right direction, but would lend 
an added zest to their work. 

Accordingly, John took the matter up with the owners 


68 


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of the show and, some ten days later, which was as soon 
as Carl could get free from the position he was holding, the 
Rex Movie became the Service Movie. 

“You’ll have to exercise the greatest wisdom and sagacity, 
Carl, if you are to succeed in presenting only inspiring pic- 
tures, and still compel the attendance of the crowd.” 

“We can do it, John; I have every faith we can. It may 
be slow progress ; but our sight will not be blinded by the 
density of the big dollar, and with our greater clarity of 
vision we will have an advantage over our competitors. At 
least, we will have a standard which we will not compro- 
mise. I often think of something Jane Addams said: ‘We 
can’t prevent people from amusing themselves badly unless 
we show them a better way.’ ” 

“You are right, Carl; and I am sure the crowd do not 
want what they are getting ; they are merely putting up with 
what they have to take. They want life, it is true; they 
want its psychology, its philosophy, its tragedy, its comedy ; 
but they do not necessarily crave the scenes of sordid sins 
and debauchery and drunkenness and lighter nothings which 
are being forced upon them. Let us give them more of the 
light and love and tears and laughter of the higher, nobler 
life, and we shall hold them. At least those who do come 
will go away with minds as clean, hearts as pure, and tastes 
as sweet as when they came ; and perhaps more so. Maybe 
they’ll have more love and light and laughter and inspir- 
ation in their lives.” 

“It’s an effort worth the trying by men with red blood in 
their veins !” 

“Amen, Carl ! God knows if a change is not made, the 
morals of men will not stand before the assaults of the 
movies of today !” 

II LL 

The success of the Service show was immediate. Carl 
exercised a discrimination in the selection of films that quite 
surprised his associates. 

“Of course,” he warned them, “you must not hold me to 
a standard that is unreasonably high. Clean and construc- 
tive films are even harder to get than we anticipated. As 
we do not control the sources of supply, we can at present 


THE SERVERS 


69 


do no more than make the best selections that are permitted 
to us.” 

“Aye, and look forward to the time when we shall control 
our own source of supply,” suggested Harrison Nelms, opti- 
mistically. 

“To be sure,” assented Carl, “and when that time comes 
I have a scheme which should appeal with delight to the 
amateurs, and to those who love art for art’s sake.” 

“At least, Carl,” put in John, “you have already succeeded 
in raising the tone of the pictures far and above those that 
were shown by the old management. And our financial suc- 
cess is so well assured that I now feel justified in suggesting 
our undertaking a class of work that sorely needs to be done. 
There is hardly another city of this size in the country that 
is without a rescue mission of some kind. The Salvation 
Army is nobly doing its share of the work, but that share is 
necessarily only a small part.” 

“Don’t you believe it would be wiser, John,” suggested 
Harrison Nelms, “for us to invest our surplus funds in an- 
other business enterprise, and let the mission wait until we 
are assured of a larger net income each month?” 

“That was the mistake we made in the beginning, Harri- 
son — setting our thoughts too intently on money-making 
We need to enlarge our business enterprises, of course, and 
to develop them at all times, as the larger the income from 
our business the greater uplift work we can do. But we must 
let the two works grow side by side : the work of money-get- 
ting and the work of proper money-spending. The deserved 
condemnation of the Christian today, his excuse and his 
curse, is that he always is ‘going to do’ that good work when 
he has made the money; and in his mad career of money- 
making, he forgets that tomorrow sometimes is too late for 
the good work. As our dividends are to be the saved souls 
and the saved bodies of men, we must begin our work of 
soul-salvation at the earliest possible moment.” 

“You’re right, John,” admitted Harrison; “and the spirit- 
ual service will continually inspire us and more fully conse- 
crate us for our work of a material nature.” 

“What do you estimate it will cost to maintain a mission. 
John?” 


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“We must not think of assuming the whole burden of sus- 
taining one, Ed. We who know the joy and profit of co-op- 
eration must carry the lesson of that joy and profit into 
every field possible. In this instance, I suggest that Har- 
rison and I go before the City Ministerial Alliance and in- 
vite the ministers of the city to join us in establishing a 
mission/’ 

“The ministers will be delighted with the opportunity,” 
exclaimed Harrison, “I know most of the pastors and I’m 
sure such a project would appeal to their hearts.” 

John and Harrison accordingly appeared before the next 
meeting of the Alliance and were welcomed as cordially as 
they had anticipated. Their proposition was received with 
general favor and, after a general discussion, a committee of 
three was appointed to work with them in formulating plans. 

Ten days later, Service Mission was formally opened, with 
Harrison Nelms actively in charge. The ministers of the 
city were responsible for the major portion of the devotional 
services. 

“This mission w ill have a fruitage peculiarly its own,” 
John insisted, to those closest allied with him in the under- 
taking. “We know that man is a creature of activity, of 
dreams and passions; and if he is not forever doing good, 
he will forever be doing what is bad. Now, many a man 
who has been rescued, who has had the flood-gates of hope 
reopened to his soul, who has dared once again to look up 
and to plant his feet on the shining pathway, has found, 
alas, the same old sinister influences of the world dragging 
him downward; and, because he has not found the crowd, 
the crowd with whom he has to live and eat and work, going 
his way, he hasn’t had the strength to go on alone. But 
every man who comes out of this mission with a renewed 
purpose in life shall have, if he chooses, the privilege and 
inspiration of living and working, yes, and of loving, with 
us ! We shall supply his dreams and passions with an outlet 
such as will make them profitable and glorious to both him- 
self and God !” 

It wasn’t long thereafter that John had the opportunity of 
fulfilling his promise. Michael McGreal, more American 
than Irish — but who had disgraced both nationalities — was 


THE SERVERS 


71 


the first convert at the mission. He rose to his feet in the 
middle of the service on a Wednesday night and, with tears 
streaming down his rough red face, said slowly and hesitat- 
ingly : 

“You’ve sung your songs about ‘Over There,’ and you 
have preached about ‘Over There,’ and my old mother and 
my wife and baby are ‘Over There,’ and God knows I want 
to go there, too. But I want to tell you that I’ve tried to 
live better before, but always failed. Five years ago in a 
mission I promised God I would live a new life — but I 
couldn’t hold out. But when I think of the missus and the 
babe, and of my old mother, and how I long to be with them, 
I want to try again — if God will help me, and if you will 
help me !” 

John was at the mission that night, and he did not let 
Mike get away before he had a talk with him. 

“Mister John, I had as good a farm as any man in my 
county. I didn’t know anything but farming, and raising 
hogs and milk cows. When my old father died he left the 
farm to me, and I made it the pride of my heart. I married, 
but in a few years my wife died, and then the baby died, and 
left just my old mother and me. And when my old mother 
died, I left the farm and went to the city. And though I 
had money in the bank, there was no work I could get except 
rough work with rough men — and often in bad weather. 
They told me that whiskey would keep my insides warm 
even if the blizzard was blowing” 

“Five years ago in a mission I promised God I would live 
better; and they got me a pretty good job with the city. But 
when I made the money I had to spend it. I wasn’t much on 
going to church — I just didn’t feel natural there. And, Mis- 
ter John, where there had been one whiskey shop on the 
street before, now there were fifty ; and where there had 
been one woman to accost me on the street before, now one 
met me on every corner. The city became full of whiskey 
and bad women. And I said ‘If God made these things that 
way, I can’t help it’ ; but now I know that God did not make 
things that way — it’s the devil in man that brings this about. 
This time, Mister John. I’m going to try the country and the 
farm.” 


72 


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“I am not an amateur at farming and stockraising myself, 
Mike, and I have an idea.” 

He led Mike into a discussion of all phases of farming and 
of dairying and stock-raising. And the upshot of it was that 
presently John had another proposition of development to 
bring before his associates. 

hi 

At a meeting several nights later, John surprised his part- 
ners by saying: “Mike and I want to buy a farm, if you 
folks have faith in us as farmers.” 

“What’s the idea, John?” asked Ed, a note of surprise in 
his voice. 

“Simply this: we have three Service Stores, a Service 
Mission and this Service Home, and Mike and I want to 
supply all of them with Service milk and Service butter, 
And what’s more to the point, Mike wants a job — and he’s 
particular about the kind of job he wants.” 

“Nuf said, John; I vote we not lose a day in establishing 
Service Dairy Farm,” — and the rest agreed with Ed. 

John and Mike spent a week, and drove many miles, be- 
fore they finally decided on leasing a twenty-five acre tract 
of land a few miles out of the city, on a paved road. The 
lease carried with it the privilege of buying, *within a year, 
both the twenty-five acre tract and an adjoining tract of the 
same size. And some forty days later, Service Farm boasted 
a dairy barn up-to-the-minute in modern construction and 
equipment. The barn was small, but built with the idea of 
enlargement. When it came to the purchase of the dairy 
stock, John and Mike had quite a discussion. 

“Mister John, your Jerseys may be alright, but I don’t 
know that they are. I was born and raised with the Hol- 
steins, and if it’s milk you want, you give me the Holsteins 
and I’ll guarantee you the milk.” 

“Very well, Mike, you are the one who will have to do the 
milking, and the Holsteins you shall have. But sometime 
I’m going to take you over into the next county and show 
you a bunch of sure enough Jersey cows. Now what about 
the hogs, Mike? Are you also particular about the breed 
of hogs you want?” 


THE SERVERS 


73 


“Mr. John, I can be happy with any kind of a hog — one 
kind is just as onery as the other; and it don’t make any 
difference if they are red or black, or neutral.” 

“The black Berkshire then, Mike; and we can get the 
finest without going out of the state.” 

While the barn was being built the Servers made a num- 
ber of trips out to the farm. Immediately after having de- 
cided to establish the dairy, they had purchased a five-pas- 
senger Ford, and a trailer to use in transporting the milk to 
the city. Late one afternoon, after the barn had been com- 
pleted and the stock purchased, they piled into their cars and 
visited the farm. 

“Aren’t they beauties,” Ed remarked, indicating ten fine 
registered Holstein cows contentedly chewing their cuds. 

“Let’s name them,” exclaimed Mrs. Anders. 

“Name ’em?” ejaculated Mike in derision; “Why they’ve 
got names and ancestry most as far back as King David !” 

“Not quite so far as that,” John said, laughing, “but I 
expect their lineage can be traced further back than we can 
trace ours.” 

“And have they got names and ancestry, too?” asked Mrs. 
Anders as they reached the lot. Five registered Berkshire 
gilts were grunting their satsifaction over a feed trough. 

“Yes, royal blood there, too, without a break,” John an- 
swered. 

“Nevertheless, we common unpedigreed folks will behead 
’em and eat ’em some day,” she replied. 

The night after the visit to the farm, while Harrison 
Nelms and Mrs. Anders were enjoying the films at the 
Service Movie they were treated to a genuine surprise. Af- 
ter the first film had been run, Carl Minton appeared in 
front of the screen and rendered a song. He sang in a deep, 
rich baritone which gained the appreciative plaudits of the 
crowd, and demanded an encore. He responded to the first 
call, but refused to do so a second time. Harrison and Mrs. 
Anders were so filled with glad surprise that they hurried 
out to the little office in front. 

“Say, that was great, old man !” cried Harrison. “We 
knew you could sing but didn’t know you could pull such a 
stunt as that. Do the others know it ?” 


74 


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“John and Ed happened in on one of my singing nights,” 
Carl replied, laughing, “but they said they intended to let 
you folks find it out one by one as you dropped in. But say, 
bring the whole crowd next Tuesday night, and well give 
you a sure enough treat.” 

The conspirators managed to get most of the others out 
the next Tuesday by telling of a mysterious film that would 
be shown for one night only. When Carl appeared this time 
a handsome young woman was with him, and they rendered 
a long dialogue in song — full of laughter and tears. They 
refused repeated calls for an encore, which Carl afterwards 
explained. 

“We cannot give them too much for their money in one 
night; and besides, we do not want it to grow old to them. 
However, we’ll not stop here. Miss Allison and I have two 
friends who are practicing with us, and soon Service Quar- 
tet will give you song on any and all occasions.” 


THE SERVERS 


75 


CHAPTER IX 

LITTLE MARY 
I 

Things had been running along so evenly in recent weeks 
with the little band of workers that they hardly were pre- 
pared for the abrupt announcement Ed made at supper one 
night. 

“I lost my job today, and I’m now looking for a full-time 
Service job.” 

John walked over and stood before his friend with such a 
serious questioning look that Ed broke into a broad smile. 

“It’s a fact, old man ; the boss himself canned me. Just 
before the close of business this afternoon Donald Ashton 
sent for me to come to his office, and when I got there he 
said without any preliminaries : ‘Mr. Phillips, at a meeting 
of the Board tonight I shall propose your name for a third 
vice-presidency ; but as I understand you are interested in 
enterprises outside of the bank it is necessary for me to tell 
you that you will be expected to sever your connection with 
those interests and to devote your entire energies to the 
affairs of the bank.’ ” 

“I saw his drift,” continued Ed, “and struck him square 
between the eyes by returning: ‘Mr. Ashton, I appreciate 
very highly the promotion you offer, but my outside inter- 
ests have grown to such an extent that they demand my 
immediate resignation from the bank.’” 

“ ‘Your resignation is accepted, sir!’ he shot back.” 

John grasped the hand of his friend, and the others crowd- 
ed around to do likewise. 

“Donald Ashton was hitting at me through you, Ed,” said 
John very seriously; “and if he has an opportunity he will 
strike at me through the Service enterprises. But,” he added 
grimly, “it will not be widows and orphans, nor yet paupers, 
that he will be dealing with, and he had best watch his 
conduct.” 

“Your charge against him evidently rankled deep, John; 
and though I do not believe he will go out of his way to 


76 


THE SERVERS 


injure you, yet, if your paths cross — as they are bound to 
do if we operate on a large scale in this city — he will do you, 
and us, all the harm he can/’ 

“We shall welcome his opposition, Ed ; it will put us on 
our mettle, and bring out the best that is in us.” 

After a general discussion of the direction in which Ed 
could most effectively turn his energies, it was decided that 
he and John should make a quiet, systematic search for an- 
other good business opening. Accordingly they started out 
next day on a still-hunt among their close friends. 

They met with no success for several days, until John 
mentioned his quest to a friend who owned a gents’ furnish- 
ing store on Main Street, and who, as a member of John’s 
church, had shown a marked interest in him. 

“John, I have heard a good deal about what you boys are 
doing, and I’m glad of an opportunity to help you. My 
doctor has issued his last warning to me ; and in consequence 
I have planned a two years’ stay in the mountains, and in 
various extended travels. If you will look after this store 
here, and also after my other interests, I will give you one- 
half the profits of this business which, during the past twen- 
ty-four months, have not averaged less than a thousand 
dollars a month.” 

John explained to him about Ed, and asked if it would be 
just as satisfactory for Ed to look after the business. 

“Why sure,” he replied, “young Phillips is a fine fellow, 
and between the two of you I know my affairs will be in 
good hands. You’ll find here such a well organized working 
force that the management will not be difficult.” 

John was delighted with the prospect and hurried away 
to locate Ed, and when he explained the proposition his 
friend was equally pleased. 

“Why, John, it’s worth while if for no other reason than 
to enable us to get even with the tailors. I have sweated 
blood many a time over a misfit suit of clothes.” 

John laughed at this viewpoint, and they hastened to 
spread the glad news to the others. 

“Good fortune seems to be smiling on us,” Harrison an- 
nounced to those who were at supper that night ; “and espe- 
cially to be showering her favors on me.” And then he sur- 


THE SERVERS 


77 


prised them by solemnly continuing : “My very good 
friends, Mrs. Anders graciously permits me to ask this 
‘family’ for their consent to exchange her name for that of 
Mrs. Harrison Nelms.” 

“Yes ! Yes !” they all exclaimed in delighted surprise, as 
they crowded around to shower their congratulations. 

“I propose .we not only give our consent but with it our 
blessing and a furlough for an indefinite honeymoon !” 

John’s proposal was greeted with generous acclaim; and 
after many more congratulations and good wishes they sep- 
arated from the supper table. 

A week later a quiet wedding was solemnized in one of the 
small city churches; and the happy couple departed for a 
two weeks’ visit to Harrison’s old home. 

On the night of the wedding, Reverend Mills, the minister 
who had performed the ceremony, detained John for a con- 
versation. 

“Brother John, how would you like to have a broken-down 
old preacher and his good-looking young wife to join your 
company of serving folks?” 

“He’s not broken down,” the minister’s wife put in, warm- 
ly, “and he ought to be ashamed to talk that way.” 

“Now, isn’t that just like a woman,” the minister said, 
laughing. “She insists to me that I am broken down and 
then resents it when I admit it to you.” 

“It’s this way, Mr. Trainor: the doctor has warned Paul 
repeatedly that if he does not give up preaching he will ruin 
not only his throat, but his general health, as well. And I 
want him to stop while he still has his health. Why, Mr. 
Trainor, sometimes on Monday mornings he can hardly 
speak above a whisper !” 

“I think Sally would rather be the wife of a professor than 
the wife of a preacher, Brother John. She married me 
when I was a sorry professor and she can’t get used to my 
having turned out a still poorer preacher.” 

“Nonsense — isn’t he shameful?” and Mrs. Mills walked 
away, leaving the men laughing. 

“Brother Mills, as soon as Harrison returns I have a 
proposition to discuss with him, and then I will outline it to 
you. I think you will be very much interested.” 


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“I shall be glad to discuss it with you, Brother John.” 
ii 

The wedding of his two friends brought to John a deep 
sense of his own imperfect and incomplete life. In spite of 
a close coterie of comrades loyal and generous and true, he 
felt a loneliness that was deepening with the passing years. 
He sensed something in life warmer and morfe transcendant 
even than the fellowship of friends — and he longed to live 
life to its fullest, deepest offering. The hopelessness of his 
love for Mary Ashton filled his mind with moody dreaming 
and in the quiet hours of the night-time dark shadows en- 
folded him as closely as they had in those dark days before 
he had plunged into the enthusiasm of his present work. 
While he saw Mary in church as often as in the past he 
could not detect the old, or fancied, interest in her eyes; he 
realized that another barrier had been raised between them 
that seemed insurmountable. 

Only his interest in his great work, and his loyalty to its 
ideal, kept up the bouyancy of his spirits. He spent many 
happy hours out on the farm where Mike, fired afresh with 
all the Irish joy of living, reigned supreme. 

“How are they milking?” John asked one day, indicating 
five new Holsteins whose cards had recently been hung up 
before their stalls — displaying fancy, queenly names. 

“They are milking just a little better than anything else 
in the barn, Mister John, and that is saying as much about 
’em as any man could say.” 

“That is saying enough, Mike ; the others have more than 
met our expectations.” 

“I knew the blood. Mister John, and there’s no denying 
that blood tells.” 

“And how’s ‘Cadmar Third’?” 

“Finest male in the state, Mister John.” 

“And the gilts, how are they doing?” 

“They’re heavy, Mister John, heavy, and soon we’ll be 
having plenty of trouble !” 

“What’s the matter, Mike, they don’t seem to be so much 
trouble now?” 

“They’re trouble enough, Mister John; there ain’t no ani- 


THE SERVERS 


79 


mal made that’s more trouble than a hog; and when the 
little fellows come they’ll be getting into everything on the 
place.” 

“But you seem to have them pretty well fenced now.” 

“There ain’t no fencing hogs, Mister John,” and Mike 
shook his head; “you might try building concrete walls 
around ’em, but if they was real determined to get out they’d 
seep through when it rained !” 

“I’m afraid you’re a hog pessimist, Mike,” John said, 
laughing heartily. 

“No, Mister John, I like to have ’em around with all their 
trouble — as long as I have the feed — you can get the better 
of hogs when you can keep ’em grunt’n full.” 

“How does the boy like it?” asked John, indicating a 
slender fellow coming out of the barn. 

“He says he has come to stay with me, Mister John; but 
of course you’ll be finding something better for him after a 
while.” 

As the young fellow came up, John noticed his frail phy- 
sique which sorely needed the strengthening air and work 
of the farm ; and in a few moments he noted the boy’s 
illiteracy, too, and suffered at the thought of it ! 

“Mister John, you’ll have to build a place for the boys to 
sleep in when they come out here. Our quarters are limited, 
but the boys sometimes are plentiful.” 

“Right you are, Mike, we’ll have to build a small bar- 
racks — with baths.” 

“Yes, we’ll have to have the baths,” assented Mike — for 
cleanliness was his awful and uncompromising standard 
around the dairy. 

It was Mike’s delight to have the men out from the Mis- 
sion. Though he had not quite understood John’s reference 
when he had heard him say to his comrades : “The farm 
will be indispensable to us in our work, for it will be there 
that we will make the new casks to contain the new wine,” 
still, Mike, too, realized the extreme necessity of first re- 
generating the bodies before they could hope to medicine 
permanently the souls of men. 

hi 

Immediately on Harrison’s return John discussed with 


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THE SERVERS 


him the matter he had intimated to Brother Mills, and then 
brought it up at a conference. 

“Funds are fast accumulating in our treasury and I be- 
lieve the time has come to place before you a matter which 
has been weighing on my heart for some time, and that is 
the proper care of the homeless children in our city. The 
small orphan’s home here does not even pretend to meet 
one-half the need. There are scores of pitiful, naked, hun- 
gry childrn scattered over our city. You know where they 
are: on cots in garrets, on straw in barns, in the filth of 
floors — but most of them are in the mire of the sin of our 
city’s streets. And yet, they are our very brothers and sis- 
ters ; they are little bundles of humanity having imbedded 
in their natures the God-given instincts of love, mercy, 
kindness, pity, laughter. But they have, too, buried in their 
natures the instincts of fear, of anger, of hatred and of 
grief. What shall the stimuli be? A stimulus of love calls 
for a reaction of love; a stimulus of hate for reaction in 
kind. Their surroundings provide the stimuli ; so what shall 
their surroundings be? Thank God, you and I will be able 
to answer for many of them. And let us believe that the 
very angels in heaven will catch the echo when the Master 
utters. “Even as you are doing it unto the least of them, 
you are doing it unto me !’ ” 

John’s proposal met, as such proposals of his invariably 
did meet, with hearty approval. And many little children 
throughout the city that night must have slept more peace- 
fully, dreaming of angels of mercy scaring away hob- 
goblins and other monsters of the darkness — which are, 
though little children do not know it, but the giant shadows 
and sequels of poverty, disease and cruel treatment. 

The next day John, imbued as always with a desire for 
co-operation, called at the small orphan’s home he had 
mentioned. He knocked at the door which in a moment 
was opened by a kindly-faced woman. 

“May I come in to make some inquiries concerning the 
Home?” 

“Certainly, come right in sir.” 

As he entered from the brightness of the outside into 
the half-light of the large hall he was startled to make out, 


THE SERVERS 


81 


sitting at a table, the figure of Mary Ashton ! Mary arose 
immediately and, with a calm composed smile, said to the 
little woman : 

“You just phone me, dear,’’ — and she would have been 
gone instantly had not a little child come running into the 
hall, calling: 

“A tiss, a tiss, a tiss by !’ ” and Mary paused a moment 
to stoop for an exchange of hugs and kisses — and again she 
would have hurried away had not the waiting woman said: 

“The gentleman wishes to make some inquiries concern- 
ing the Home, Mary.” 

“You give him the necessary information, dear,” she 
said, as she slipped out and closed the door. 

John stood bewildered ; it had all happened so quickly. 
He had not dreamed of Mary’s taking an interest in char- 
ity work, especially to the extent of personal service. 

“That was Miss Ashton,” the matron remarked, as she 
took a seat and gathered into her lap the little tot who had 
stopped Mary for a kiss. 

“I did not know that Miss Ashton was interested in 
works of charity,” John replied. 

“Why, Mary Ashton is the chief support of the Home ; 
whenever I am in distress, I always call on Mary.” 

John explained the object of his call. 

“I am so glad to hear of someone else taking an in- 
terest in the children,” the matron said eagerly, with a sigh 
of relief. “How I wish more people could realize the great 
needs of our poor, homeless children,” and the little woman 
paused wistfully, and then she added : “Perhaps they do 
realize their needs but are not willing to give up any of 
their own pleasures and comforts. My children are only half 
cared for here ; and I sleep every night in dread of a fire ; 
this old building is very dry and would burn so quickly.” 

“How long have you been connected with the Home?” 

“About four years now. Mary induced me to come here. 
Her mother was the founder, you might say, of the Home ; 
and when she died, Mary took up the work. You will have 
to consult her concerning the business affairs of the Home ; 
either Mary, or else Mrs. Andrews or Mrs. Barton, who 
also take an active interest in our affairs.” 

6 


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John had, meanwhile, been trying to induce the little girl 
who had kissed Mary to leave the matron’s lap and to come 
to him, and at last she did so. 

“What is your name?” 

“My name is Mary.” 

“Just Mary?” he said — and was sorry the moment the 
words were spoken. 

But he need not have sorrowed for the little child quickly 
replied : “They call me ‘Little’ Mary because Sister Mary 
is so big.” 

“Mary has no favorites — except one,” explained the ma- 
tron, smiling. 

That little Mary was a darling child John could readily 
see. She was just a slender slip but as one gazed into the 
depths of her big eyes, one could read there an infinite 
woman nature! And she was, a child-woman — child in 
every spontaneous movement and care-free action; woman 
in every thoughtful look and serious poise of her slender 
body. In repose, her little face was tender and wistful, and 
her eyes full of love and trust ; but when animated, the little 
face danced with smiles, and the brown eyes sparkled with 
light and mischief. As John watched her, he wondered about 
her nose : it was not pug, and yet, it certainly did suggest 
pugness. He wondered why, for gentleness spoke in her 
every other feature : in the tender light of her big brown 
eyes ; in the lurking smile which continually challenged his 
own ; in the appealing slenderness of her little form — which 
made him think of a tender flower one would like to pluck 
because of its slender fragrant freshness ! 

“Ah, she is just a little tender flower of humanity!” — 
and the man thought of thousands like her who were with- 
ering and dying for lack of a little love and some measure 
of human kindness ! 

As he rose to go, and was putting the child down he 
kissed her on the cheeks on the same spots he was sure 
that Mary had kissed. At once he realized that this child 
would ever hold a central place in his heart! 

“I thank you very much for the information you have 
given me,” he said to the matron at the door, “and I will 


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consult further with the ladies whose names you men- 
tioned.” 

“Old man,” he exclaimed to Ed. that afternoon, “I am up 
against something I had not dreamed of, but I shall not 
back away from it if you will help me out.” 

As he explained about Mary’s interest in the orphan’s 
home his friend laughed heartily. 

“Leave it to me, John; and if I don’t put the silk-gloved 
diplomats to shame you can count me an abject failure in 
life. Mary has never had the heart to turn me down.” 

He phoned Mary for an appointment to see her imme- 
diately — his first visit to the Ashton home since he had left 
the bank. She greeted him as cordially as of old, which 
made it easier for him to come to the point. Ed. was very 
serious as he outlined the plans of the Servers to care for 
the homeless children in the city, and of their desire to co- 
operate with those already interested in order that unity of 
effort might further the common cause. Mary discussed the 
matter with him as though John was not involved in it in 
the slightest degree ; and eventually she suggested that they 
go together to see Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Barton. These 
two ladies were delighted to see them on the errand for 
which Mary explained they had come. 

“We want our children better housed and better cared 
for, of course, but we do not want to give them up,” replied 
Mrs. Andrews with a degree of warmth that argued well 
for the heart interest in the work. 

“If you will join with us in the support of a modern 
home, there will be no reason for your giving them up. In 
fact, we shouldn’t want you to do so ; there would be no 
reason for you taking any less interest in the . children in 
the new home than you are taking in them in the old one.” 

“Where would the new home be located?” asked Mrs. 
Barton. 

“Our plan is to have it located just outside of the city, 
where the children would have the fresh air and sunshine 
of the country. And we intend to make of it a school as 
well as a home.” 

The two ladies responded that they would be delighted to 
have their children in such surroundings. 


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“But this girl will have to give you our answer,” Mrs. 
Andrews said, as she leaned over and lovingly took Mary’s 
hand, “for we are but her very poor helpers.” 

“I could not think of opposing any plans which looked 
toward our children’s betterment. We have to struggle very 
hard to provide them with the poor comfort and care they 
now receive.” 

These words of Mary’s filled Ed’s cup with joy, and he 
hurried away to tell John the good news. 

“And I demand due reward for my effort in persuading 
her to condescend to enter into an undertaking with us,” 
he said to his friend after relating to him the entire con- 
versation with the ladies. 

John smiled graciously; but he wondered with a throb- 
bing heart just how much interest Mary would allow her- 
self to show in the new home ! However, his enthusiasm 
rose with a bound, and realizing that Mary’s eyes would 
be on the outcome of his efforts determined to throw his 
whole energy into making the home an undoubted success. 

“Ed, let’s call on Asa Selvidge for help ; we have a cause 
that ought to appeal to him/’ 

“A bright idea, John; I know he will help us.” 

They called to see Asa Selvidge the next day. 

“You boys are prodding me in a tender part of my na- 
ture,” the philanthropist said. “While I have intended in- 
vestigating what provision was being made for the care 
of the homeless children in our city many pressing matters 
have claimed my attention, and I have suffered pricks of 
conscience as a consequence. Tell me just what you pro- 
pose to do.” 

John explained their plans as far as they had been de- 
veloped. 

“I will give ten thousand dollars toward your first build- 
ing,” Mr. Selvidge said, after a moment’s consideration, 
“provided you build one costing not less than double that 
amount.” 

“With your generous offer as a spur, we certainly shall 
not stop short of a building of which you will be proud,” 
John assured him. 

Good-luck seemed to be following John as close as his 


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shadow. That same day he received a phone call from 
Charlie at the farm, stating that he wished to consult with 
him at once. 

He assured John that there was no trouble, but that 
something had occurred about which it was advisable to 
talk to him. John suggested that they meet at Ed.’s store 
as it was not possible for him to go to the farm. 

Charlie had moved to the farm a short time previous on 
account of his wife’s health, and a general shift around 
among the Servers had consequently occurred. 

“I had a message from Lawton & Harris,” he explained 
on reaching Ed’s store, “saying they had been unable to 
catch you. Lawton says that the Appellate Court has ren- 
dered its decision and that the land is now ours.” 

“That doesn’t increase our wealth greatly, does it, 
Charlie?” 

“May’be it does and may’be it doesn’t, John,” said Charlie 
importantly. “Don’t you know that the tract lies against 
the Daytona oil field?” 

“The mischief it does !” ejaculated John. 

More than a year previously John had instituted a suit 
to recover a small tract of land which had belonged to 
Charlie’s grandparents. He had won the case in the lower 
court, and had then engaged Lawton & Harris to prose- 
cute the suit on appeal. He had entirely forgotten the mat- 
ter and had no idea that the rich strike of oil several months 
back had been anywhere near this land; and Charlie had 
refrained from mentioning the fact. John had instituted the 
suit for Charlie more as a friend than as an attorney, and 
though he had furnished all cost moneys himself, he had 
said nothing about having an interest in the land. 

“It’s as much yours as mine, John,” Charlie was saying, 
“and it is for you to say what shall be done with it.” 

“Never mind the ownership, Charlie, knowing your feel- 
ings toward our work I am sure you have no objection to 
our sinking a well and making use of any good fortune 
we may get from it.” 

“Sure, John, sink a dozen wells; that’s what my excite- 
ment was about. I have a feeling there’s lots of money in 


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the ground out there, and the sooner we dig it out and 
spend it for the cause, the happier we all will be.” 

“Well said, Charlie. Ed and I will at once look into the 
matter of sinking a well.” 

And at a meeting that night they were ready with their 
report. 

“In my judgment, we can’t make arrangements any too 
soon for sinking a well,” said John. “As Charlie has ex- 
plained, the tract lies close to the Daytona field and great 
producing wells are on two sides of it.” 

“What about the cost of sinking a well, John?” Carl 
asked, dubiously. 

“No trouble there; we can provide all funds necessary 
without taking a dollar from our treasury.” 

“Charlie, you’ve given us something to dream about,” 
cried Harrison, “and I’m beginning already to build oil 
castles !” 


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CHAPTER X 
sorrow's shadow 

I 

After their success with Mary and with Asa Selvidge, 
John had gone according to his promise to see Brother 
Mills about the establishment of the Children's Home, and 
as he outlined his plans the minister listened with intense 
interest. 

“Brother John, Mrs. Mills will go into raptures when I 
tell her of the opportunity you offer us. She dearly loves 
children, and has often urged me to go to the foreign field 
to work among them." 

And the next day the minister phoned him that they had 
decided to cast their lot with the Servers just as soon as 
they could be released from their charge. 

“That’s fine," exclaimed John in reply, “and if you can 
find time this afternoon, we will begin the investigation and 
study of plans for a modern home. I have secured a loca- 
tion that is ideal." 

Before this, John and Harrison had sought out Farmer 
Bardman from whom they were leasing their other land 
and, after much persuasion, they had induced him to sell 
to them on long time payments twenty-five acres adjoining 
Service farm. John was to meet the seller at his attorney’s 
office to close the deal. He hurried there after his talk with 
the minister. 

“Has my man showed up yet?" he asked the attorney. 

“Why, yes, he was in some time ago leaving word for 
you that he had sold the land to another party." 

Without further questions John hurried out and entering 
his car drove to the farmer’s home. 

He was more than surprised at the action of the old man 
for during his short acquaintance with him, John had 
learned to admire the farmer for his many fine, if rugged, 
qualities. The shrewd old trader evidently had the common 
failing of humanity, however, and John surmised that he 
had sold the land to another because he was offered a higher 
price. 


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The old man greeted him with a smile, and a twinkle in 
his eye. 

“Wal, young man, ‘business is business/ and if you don’t 
offer enough for a horse the other fellow gets him.” 

In spite of this friendly greeting John replied sharply : 
“Yes, Mr. Bardman, but I don’t sell the same horse to two 
different buyers ; and my word is good for half-a-day, in 
any trade.” 

“When you’ve had your word taken advantage of as often 
as me, young man, you’ll know that a trade ain’t closed ’til 
the papers are signed and the money paid,” and the old 
man’s eyes glinted hard. 

“May I enquire who is the other buyer?” 

“Wal, I don’t know as that makes" any difference,” replied 
the old man, stroking his beard. 

“Oh, well, of course the transfer will appear in this after- 
noon’s paper,” remarked John, a little nettled. 

“There hasn’t been any transfer,” smiled the farmer, 
“you’re not the only good business man as is a poor trader, 
young fellow.” 

“Look here, friend Bardman,” said John in a more con- 
ciliating tone, “do I understand you want me to bid against 
another, and that the highest bidder gets the land?” 

“Just as you like, friend Trainor; the papers ain’t drawn.” 

“But the land isn’t worth more than we offered.” 

“It’s sold for more,” smiled the farmer. 

“The other fellow must want it pretty bad.” 

“Naw, he don’t; I simply remarked to my banker that I 
had the land sold to you for so much, and he said durn if he 
wouldn’t pay more’n that.” 

A light dawned on John as he remembered the bank at 
which the farmer transacted his business. 

“Donald Ashton is your banker, is he not?” 

“Wal, he keeps my spare change, and sometimes we do 
a little trading together,” answered the old man, reluctantly. 

“Mr. Bardman,” began John earnestly, “we cannot afford 
to offer more for the land; in fact, I’m going to ask you 
to make us an outright gift of it, to be used for the purpose 
we explained.” 

? The old man laughed at John. 


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“Wal, I don’t expect I’ll give away any of my land as 
long as I can sell it for more’n the taxes.” 

John explained to Bardman the animus behind Donald 
Ashton’s action ; giving him an account of the cruel death 
of little Viola Anders. He pictured the pitiful loneliness of 
the mother left behind ; and then reminded him of the still 
more pitiful condition of little children orphaned and left 
without the love and tender care of a single near and 
dear one. 

“You have no children, Mr. Bardman, and I know the 
big void there must be in your heart. It’s a terribly aching 
void when you permit yourself to think of it. But God is 
now offering to you, through us, a measured recompense 
for that large part of life you have missed. Do not refuse 
an opportunity that will bring to you far more happiness 
than anything your money could buy.” 

Bardman appeared to be more interested in the propo- 
sition than John really expected, and so the project was 
pictured in the most alluring colors which John could bring 
to bear upon the very urgent facts and needs. 

The old man was silent while he dabbed his eyes with a 
red rag. He seemed to be experiencing a most trying strug- 
gle. At last he blew his nose violently. 

“I’ll tell you what I will do, Mr. Trainor; I’ll deed you 
the twenty-five acres with this proviso : if you close or aban- 
don the Home for any cause not approved by me, the title 
to the land will revert to me.” 

“That is fair enough,” agreed John with a glad voice, “if 
we draw the instrument in a manner that will protect us to 
the extent of the value of the improvements.” 

“Now, I want to tell you, young man, I never thought I 
would ever give away a foot of my land. But, dog-gone it, 
I believe I already feel better for having consented to do so.” 

“Amen, Brother Bardman,” exulted John, “and when you 
get to the point where you will give yourself as well as give 
your property, you will know what it is truly to live !” 

The land donated was twenty-five acres adjoining Service 
Dairy Farm and, as John had told Brother Mills, it was 
ideal for the purpose. Dense groups of shade trees were 


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scattered here and there, and a tiny stream fed by springs, 
and clear as crystal, threaded its way across from one corner 
of the land to the other. 

“It’s an ideal place for chickens and ducks, with lots of 
spots for the children’s gardens,” exclaimed John, pointing 
these out to the minister as they walked over the place. 

“It will be a paradise for the children,” exclaimed Brother 
Mills. “I thank God for His bounty to us !” 

They chose a location for the first building, and a few 
days later the ground was broken. 

In the meantime, the Servers did not propose to neglect 
the children in the old Home. 

“I suggest,” John said at a jubilee meeting to celebrate 
their recent successes, “that each of us choose one or more 
of the children in the Home to be our little brothers and 
little sisters. They need individual love as well as individ- 
ual care and nurture, and each one of them should be made 
to feel that there is someone in the world -who is peculiarly 
interested in, and especially dear to, just him or just her. 
We should give them our individual love and watchful in- 
terest through the passing months and years.” 

It is easy to guess who John chose to be his little 
sister. He had to act by proxy, however, in many ways, for 
he never dreamed of entering the Home after his encounter 
there with Mary. He as soon would have thought of enter- 
ing unbidden into her own home. But Little Mary came to 
see him when the other children came, and he often sent 
her message and little remembrances. She entered ‘right into 
his heart and quickly became a big part of his life. He 
.marveled that she could be so much child and so much 
woman. He knew that she could not be more than seven 
years old ; that is, it could not have been more than seven 
years since she had come into this world ; but, as he watched 
her womanly ways, he was sure she had started away back 
there with Mother Eve ! And yet, she was all child, all life, 
in every teasing, darting action. Any passing fancy, how- 
ever, would change her quickly, and she would come to him 
with her big eyes questioning so seriously, that he would 
have to gaze long into their brown depths before answering 


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her, endeavoring to fathom what was hidden there that he 
might answer her the more wisely ! 

“Dear little daughter/’ he would exclaim, almost in awe, 
“your eyes are wonderful with the light of wisdom which 
God put there, and I think you are, already, more woman 
than child !” 

And then, because of some child hurt, she would come to 
him with those same eloquent eyes filling with tears that 
would not flow, but only well up, caused by the tender 
heart below, and he would have to gather her into his big 
strong arms and love her hurt away ! 

His love for the child saddened him ; for it intensified in 
his soul the longing for the glory of that greater woman 
love which he knew to be in God’s plan for every man’s 
life; but which threatened to be denied to him for some 
reason he could not know! 

ii 

With so many activities and interests, the weeks and 
months passed quickly, and the enthusiasm and excitement 
of the Servers grew as the days went by. The contractors 
drilled deeper and deeper with the oil well while the time 
drew nearer for the completion of the Home. Besides mak- 
ing delightful trips to the oil field, the comrades often pic- 
nicked under the shade of the trees bordering the tiny stream 
near where the Home was being built. 

Hardly a day went by that John did not make a trip of 
inspection to the Home. And often he and Mary Ashton 
passed each other in their cars ; but always so rapidly as 
hardly to recognize one another. Only twice did they meet 
at the Home, and then John immediately got into his car 
and drove away. He wanted Mary to feel perfectly free to 
visit the Home without any fear of his attempting to force 
his presence or association upon her. 

But there was one occasion in the city when he was un- 
able to avoid her, and they exchanged spoken words for the 
first time. It was often a kindness on John’s part to tend 
shop a few minutes for some of the young fellows who were 
in charge of the many filling stations he had to superintend. 

One morning one of the young men said to him : “Mr. 


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Trainor, will you loan me your car to drive home a minute 
and get a package I came off without.” 

“Sure, Harry,” assented John, “is Ned around?” Ned 
was the boy who put the grease in cars, filled the tires with 
air, and did the other rough work around the station. 

“Ned ought to be back in a minute,” Harry assured him. 

John went into the little office of the station but had 
hardly seated himself before the honk of a horn sounded 
outside, and he hurried out to the sidewalk — just as Mary 
Ashton brought her big car to a full stop directly in front 
of the station. Mary had been looking straight ahead as 
she drove up, and when she turned toward John she was 
already saying: 

“Some gas, please.” 

And then she saw him standing in the center of the side- 
walk, in great confusion and not knowing what to do. In 
response to a sound in the rear of the station the discon- 
certed man turned and called through the door : 

“Ned!” There was no response, and he called again. 

Mary had recovered her composure by now, and was 
thoroughly enjoying John’s predicament and confusion. She 
could hardly repress* a smile as she complained very 
seriously : 

“I am in a hurry, please !” 

“Pardon me,” he apologized dolefully, and the next mo- 
ment he was unscrewing the cap on the tank of the car. 
While doing so he was fully conscious of her intense gaze. 
But he, too, was recovering his composure. After inserting 
the gauge and reading it he looked her steadily in the eyes 
while asking: 

“Eight gallons?” 

“What it will hold?” she nodded, curtly. 

As he slowly turned the crank to the oil pump, he could 
feel his heart, too, pumping, at a tremendous rate. He was 
conscious of her gaze again being on him, and he longed to — 
but dared not — look at her! It seemed ages while the tank 
was filling; but when it was full, she did not wait for him to 
finish screwing on the Cap before touching the starter button, 
and the engine commenced to throb. He gave a last twist 
to the cap and again looked her fully in the eyes as he spoke : 


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“Charge?” 

She nodded an answer — and the big car jumped ahead. 
He stood staring down the long street at the fast receding 
car, hardly knowing which impulse would master him : 
whether he would shout for joy because he actually had 
spoken to her, or would shed tears because of her short, 
curt coldness ! 

He re-lived the incident a thousand times during the re- 
mainder of the day, unable to dismiss it from his mind. At 
last, in desperation, he sought refuge at the farm, as he 
often did when in need of a change of emotions. 

Mike, with tireless energy, still ruled at the farm. His 
love of his work had grown as the activities of the farm 
increased. Twenty-five little Berkshire pigs had arrived to 
add to the confusion of the barn-lot as they fought for the 
milk of their mothers. The arrival of the pigs had occa- 
sioned Mike’s fortieth request for additional livestock, and 
had resulted shortly thereafter in the hog contingent being 
further distinguished by the presence of Duke Drake, a fine 
registered boar, imported from the northern part of the 
State. Mike was never satisfied to progress slowly, how- 
ever, and he never missed an opportunity of impressing his 
needs on John. 

“Mister John, Store No. 2 calls for more milk, and Store 
No. 1 calls for more milk; and as it is I don’t have but very 
little for Store No. 4 — ” 

“Out with it, Mike, you’re leading up to something,” John 
interrupted. 

“It’s no use to buy less than ten head at a time, Mister 
John,” the man smilingly replied. 

“Would you be satisfied with grade stock this time, 
Mike?” 

“Not yet, Mister John; we must lay the foundation for 
our future herd first, and then we can put up with some 
grade.” 

“All right, Mike; I expect our purse will stand the 
strain.” 

“But that ain’t all, Mister John; the stores are calling for 
butter, too; and there ain’t no time like the present for 
starting. Mr. Carl says the farm is holding it own ; and if 


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you will give me the butter machinery and the cows, it will 
more’n hold its own.” 

“There’s no holding you down, Mike; you are perfectly 
insatiable, but I am sure you are entitled to what you ask.” 

But hardly a month had passed before Mike was after 
him again. 

“Mr. John, we ain’t no better off than we were. The 
stores keep calling for more milk,’’ he complained as his eyes 
twinkled, “and there ain’t no way out unless we water the 
yield !” 

“Mike, didn’t you know when you ordered the butter 
machinery at the same time you bought the ten cows the net 
result wouldn’t mean any more milk?’’ and John’s eyes 
twinkled too. 

Mike smiled broadly. 

“I sort o’ calculated, Mister John, if I gave them the 
butter they wouldn’t bother me for more milk.’’ 

“And I suppose they’re bothering you now for both more 
milk and more butter, are they not?’’ demanded John. 

“That’s what they are; and they say they’ve had to have 
Mr. Carl to stop his advertising.” 

Carl looked after the advertising for the stores and John 
often had seen flashed on the Service Movie screen : “At 
Service Stores, Service Milk and Service Butter — you Bet !” 

“What would you have me do, Mike?” 

“Mister John, I don’t think there’s any use in buying less 
than fifteen head ; but,” he hastened to add, “we can get 
along with good grade stock this time !” 

hi 

Four full months had passed since the determination to 
establish the Children’s Home, and at last the Home was 
completed and the children were to be transferred from the 
old Home. Elaborate preparations had been made properly 
to celebrate the event, and everybody was happy and ex- 
cited; that is, everybody except John, who was forced to 
find an excuse to go to the oil field. He was determined 
that Mary should have every reason to believe that she could 
continue her interest in the children without the necessity of 
being forced into his company. 

One other cloud threw its shadow over the event of the 


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transfer. Little Mary was sick with fever, and when she 
came to the new Home she came as the first patient in the 
hospital ward. She had been such a light-hearted, happy 
little creature, so full of life, that now, as she lay so quiet 
and still on her bed, every heart about her was troubled with 
fear. She lay by the hour with her little flushed, fevered 
face on the white pillow, and with her big brown eyes closed 
as though in sleep. She was so patient and good, and so 
brave with childish courage while taking the bitter doses 
of medicine, that the nurse’s heart was touched to tears. 

John called to see her every day, and Mary as often, but 
they did not meet as they called at different hours. On 
these visits, however, each would be told by Little Mary 
that the other had been there, for she had learned to love 
Brother John and Sister Mary with all the worship of child 
love. On the tenth day of her sickness, John received a 
’phone summons from the sobbing voice of Mrs. Mills. 

“Little Mary is asking for you, and she is so low I fear 
you had better come at once.” 

John left his work immediately and hurried to the Home. 
When he reached the door of the sick ward, he tapped light- 
ly, and when the door opened, it was by Mary Ashton ! She 
was alone in the room with the little child. 

“Pardon me,” John said gravely, and stepped back, as 
though to turn and go. 

“Do not go,” Mary urged calmly, “come right in,” and 
she turned and whispered to little Mary, “Brother John has 
come to see you, and I am going out for a little while.” 

As she turned to leave the room, she looked directly at 
John, and he read in her eyes what he was sure he had 
read there before : a hurt that was deep beyond forgetting 
and beyond forgiving! He longed to cry out that she was 
mistaken — that it was not true that he had branded her 
father as a murderer ! But would he ever be able to tell her 
that? For would he ever be able to feel in his heart that 
Donald Ashton was really any less than a murderer? 

“Brother John, it seems so long since you were here,” the 
child was whispering with a faint little voice, “you will not 
stay away so long again ?” 


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“Brother John will come out to see you this afternoon, 
and will stay all night so as to be close by you.” 

“I am so glad,” the gentle voice sighed, and the big brown 
eyes closed again. 

The strong man bowed his head, and the tears swelled in 
his eyes; she was a precious little girl, and he had learned 
to love her as though she were his own. 

The doctor came into the room, and John could see that 
he, too, was in deep sorrow. 

“Can you give us no hope, doctor? She means so much 
to us, and she seems to be slowly slipping away.” 

“Yes, she is slowly wasting away, and there is nothing 
we can do — except to be very kind to her; she is such a 
brave, gentle little spirit.” 

John bowed his head again, and left the room. As he 
passed Mary in the hall he averted his face ; but she guessed 
his sorrow. She, too, was deeply stirred by the illness of the 
child ; her heart strings were being wrenched as they had 
never been wrenched before. Mary was passing through a 
crisis period in her own life ; and she realized something 
of its significance. She was discovering a side to her nature 
that she had not known existed. Two persons had come into 
her life, thoughts of whom she could not dismiss, at will, as 
she had lightly done with thoughts of others. 

John returned again in the afternoon and found there had 
been no change in the child’s condition, and he slept that 
night at the Home as he had promised to do. 

In the morning there still was no change, and he left for 
his work, promising to return at noon and to stay all after- 
noon and all night again. But in the middle of the morning 
he received another ’phone summons to hurry out as the 
little girl was sinking rapidly. 

When he reached the sick room he found already assem- 
bled there the doctor, the nurse, Mrs. Mills and Mary, who 
was sitting by the bedside holding one of the hands of the 
child. Mrs. Mills motioned John to the other side of the 
bed, and he moved around quietly and took the other hand 
of little Mary in his. She smiled up at him ever so faintly 
and, by leaning close, he could hear her whisper: 

“I am going away from you, Brother John; but Sister 


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Mary says I am going where Jesus is, and where my own 
dear mama and papa are; and she says that after awhile 
you and she are coming up to see me, and that you will 
never go away again.” 

He fought the tears back, and smiled bravely as he pressed 
her wasted hand. She closed her eyes, and soon her faint, 
regular breathing — the only sound in the room — indicated 
that she was asleep. And in a few hours, without again 
waking in this world, the angels came and took her away to 
that Home where she would never again be called a little 
“orphan child.” 

Mary’s grief was deep and poignant— much deeper than 
anyone knew, because she shut it up in her heart hiding it 
to herself. She had often thought of taking little Mary into 
her own home and raising her as a little sister. And she 
would have done so, had she not believed that while Mary 
was so young she probably was happier with the other chil- 
dren. And then Brother John had come and Mary had 
secretly marveled that she had felt no resentment, no jeal- 
ousy, when the little girl had readily bestowed a part of her 
love on him. 

“I don’t love Brother John better than I do you; and I 
don’t love you better than I do him ; but I love you both 
ever so much !” had been the frank admission the child had 
made more than once. 

And Mary would hug her tight, thinking : “You blessed 
angel child ; God has given you so much love you can shower 
it on everybody !” 

As John turned away from the flower-covered little grave, 
Mary could see that his shoulders were drooping and that 
his tear-stained face was taut and drawn with inexpressible 
sorrow — and her heart pitied him ! She did not realize — and 
would not have admitted it to be true— that their love for 
the little child, hallowed by sorrow, was an invisible link 
joining indissolubly their two hearts! 


7 


98 


THE SERVERS 


CHAPTER XI 

FORTUNE SMILES 
I 

A week after the death of little Mary, John and Ed were 
standing on Main Street watching the crowd pouring out of 
the stores and shops and office buildings. Six o’clock was 
the general closing hour, and there was an exodus home- 
ward at this hour. “Homeward?” Let us not disabuse the 
use of the word “home” if, indeed, it is a word symbol which 
still stands in this twentieth century for a place differing 
from all others ! Let us not call a “room for two at four a 
week, with light and water and heat” a home ! And yet, 
how many of the thousands hurrying past were rushing on 
to such homes as that ! 

“If we were on top of the Bratton Building and looking 
downward at the crowd,” remarked Ed, “they would seem 
like an army of scurrying ants.” 

“Yes,” replied John, quickly, “but that would be the 
wrong perspective from which to view them. You should 
follow them to the places they call ‘home’ and there, with 
the world shut out, with the outside flung off, with the 
abandon back to what they really are — with hearts and 
hopes bared, and ambitions and sorrows, and loves and long- 
ings ; with their stories of what they were, what they are, 
what they hope to be, and what they are relentlessly becom- 
ing to be in spite of struggles to breast the tide — there, in 
their ‘homes’ with just them, and their problem, and their 
God, or gods, you could view them from a perspective which 
would reveal the Truth of their lives ! 

“As we see them now,” he continued, “they are so many 
lies ; they are not what they seem to be. W e see them with 
their crowd hurry ; we hear their crowd laugh ; we know 
they have their crowd sorrows ; but each one has, too, his 
or her own individual sorrow, own individual happiness, 
loves and longings. Each heart has its own history, its own 
tears, and, thank God, its own laughter ; 

“If they would only be what they really are,” he contin- 
ued, “and not pretend to be what they are not. Look at the 


THE SERVERS 


99 


two young boys with cigarettes tilted in their mouths — 
thinking to add a cubit to the stature of their manhood by 
the tilt of a tissue wrapped tobacco weed ! And the two 
young fellows just entering Otto’s — they, too, think to add 
to their manhood stature by the careless toss of a glass of 
poison ! And down there, Ed — you see the little blue-eyed, 
doll-faced blonde who has just joined Jack Wilbur at the 
corner? She is an angel at heart, and is what she ought to 
be — I know her folks well, and know her history — but she is 
surely on the way to hell now — a living hell — you and I 
knowing Jack Wilbur are sure of that.” 

“And the wonder,” he added shortly, “is that more of the 
crowd do not choose the easy road to ruin. It’s a tribute 
to the true worth of human nature, to its intrinsic nobility, 
that so many of us can resist the tinseled temptations, the 
false allurements of life on every hand; that we can stand 
the stress and strain and striving of today’s intense struggle 
for existence without being flung onto the scrap-heap ! 

“You see the young fellows coming out of Laud’s? They 
are Baraca boys ; but what an insignificant per cent of this 
passing crowd will be found in the Sunday Schools on Sun- 
day morning! Those two boys have a room at the Dalton. 
Mrs. Dalton has fifty rooms in her place and she tells me 
that one-half of these are occupied by young men coming 
from the small towns surrounding here, and from far-off 
cities. And with few exceptions the other rooms are occu- 
pied by young women who come, too, from small towns and 
far-off cities. None of these girls are £ bad’ — now; Mrs. 
Dalton insists on keeping a respectable place. Have you 
ever had the owners of rooming houses, of boarding houses, 
tell you of their incessant effort to keep their places ‘re- 
spectable?’ Let them tell you their problems. And yet, it 
is to just such ‘homes’ as those that the majority of this 
crowd are going. ‘They are good and they are bad,’ Ed; 
‘they are wise and they are foolish,’ ‘they are strong and 
they are weak,’ and our problem is to help them so to live 
that each tomorrow will find them better than they are 
today; that each tomorrow will find them wiser and stronger 
than they are today ! How shall we do this? What do they 
need? Christ in their lives? Christ in the crowd? Surely, 


100 


THE SERVERS 


but more than the mere preached Christ which many re- 
ceive on Sundays !” 

John paused with knitted brow — as though the problem 
was greater than could be solved. 

“You mean, then,” asked Ed, “that you think the preach- 
ers are wasting their efforts ?” 

“Oh, no,” John hastened to reply, “I would not have you 
mistake me. I would not take the preachers out of the pul- 
pits— though I would change their messages ! But the whole 
of the Gospel is not summed up in the command ‘Go thou 
and preach’ — to the crowd. Did not the Master say : ‘I 
have come that they might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly ?’ So I repeat : the crowd needs 
more than a mere preached Christ — they need a practiced 
Christ, of the week days ! They need a Christ to live by 
as well as a Christ to die by — the Christ of the abundant 
life who loved his neighbors as himself, who fed them, 
healed them, and sent them away rejoicing! And our prob- 
lem, Ed, is to help the crowd to find the ‘abundant life’ — 
which necessarily will be the better life. The mission of the 
Servers is a large one !” 

ii 

The two friends walked slowly on to join the others at 
supper. Later, they all gathered at Service Movie to see a 
new picture ; one recommended by Carl Minton as the best 
attraction he had yet shown. Hardly were they seated, how- 
ever, when Carl came to where they were and, whispering 
and motioning excitedly, led them out to the front. 

“Harrison just ’phoned that the drillers have brought in 
a gusher. He says it came in with a roar, and is a corker ! 
If we want to see it before it’s capped we’ll have to hurry!” 

“Let’s go !” came the excited chorus answer from all ex- 
cept Mike — who protested he had assisted in capping too 
many gushers to lose half a night’s sleep over this one. 

It was a bright moonlight night and the party covered the 
thirty miles to Daytona in a very short time. Harrison met 
them, all excitement. 

“She’s gushing the dollars out and Service stock is soaring 
skyward !” he exclaimed enthusiastically. 

“Glory be,” responded Ed, “we’ll have to celebrate with a 


THE SERVERS 


101 


supper and plan how to spend the dollars as fast as they 
flow out !” 

Ed’s plan was eagerly accepted and a great celebration 
was held the very next night. Service dining hall was deco- 
rated with flowers and colors and the long table was spread 
with good things to eat. For two hours the comrades ate 
and talked and sang. Not a member was missing. 

John sat listening to the joyous notes of unbounded enthu- 
siasm of those around him. He smiled continually at the 
many varied and wild proposals advanced by different ones 
for spending their new-found riches. . At length, when their 
fancies reached a lull, Charlie Inmannurned toward him. 

“Now, John, let us hear something from one we all know 
will have something really sensible to propose.” 

“Comrades,” John began with deep feeling, “this is a 
great moment in our lives ! And it is one we never would 
have known had we continued on alone, each one struggling 
separate and apart in his individual way to make his life 
count for the Master. Some of us might have accumulated 
great riches and have made our lives tell in valuable ways 
of service; and some, even without riches, might have ren- 
dered faithful service. But, we still would not have known 
the joy of the fellowship of this moment — the joy of a com- 
mon undertaking, of a common battle being fought, of a 
common victory being won ! 

“We now have an assured income of not less than a thou- 
sand dollars a day; and with the new wells which we must 
drill at once we may soon have a daily income of several 
thousand dollars. Now, I have listened with interest to 
your discussion of plans for spending this money, and I 
noted that the proposition arousing the most enthusiasm was 
one to build a hospital. Undoubtedly, that would be a tre- 
mendously worthy undertaking. The Master commanded us 
to care for the sick and the suffering. But the Master wants 
us in all we do, I am sure, to act with the same acute wis- 
dom as is exercised by the children of the world. And 
when we find we can accomplish a purpose as effectively by 
inducing others to finance the proposition, and thus save 
our own funds for purposes possibly less popular, we should 
do so. 


102' 


THE SERVERS 


“In this instance of the hospital, if we can get a man of 
vision elected to the mayor’s office we will have no difficulty 
in securing a great municipal hospital. But you wonder 
what slightest chance, under present conditions, there is that 
such a man will be elected. Yesterday, there was no chance ; 
but today, with the new power we have acquired, I believe 
there is a magnificent chance — almost a certainty. I do not 
mean that our organization, as an organization, should enter 
actively into politics; but you and I are agreed that the 
fundamental purpose of our organization is to secure power 
for good, and we must exercise that power for uplift in 
whatever way promises sure results. 

“Today I looked into the chance of our securing a con- 
trolling interest in one or the other of our daily papers. I 
found the Morning News to be hard and fast in the control 
of Donald Ashton and his crowd. But, my friends, if we 
act promptly, we can acquire control of the Evening Journal. 
Asa Selvidge assures me that fifty thousand dollars will pur- 
chase an interest which, added to the interest he owns, would 
give us control of the paper. Asa Selvidge can secure this 
interest if we 'act at once. As most of you know, Roland 
Ashton, Donald Ashton’s brother, will be one of the candi- 
dates for mayor at the coming election. The Ashton crowd 
are bidding strong for the support of the Journal; in fact, 
they are bringing such pressure to bear on the editor as is 
calculated to force the paper’s support. Asa Selvidge knows 
that the editor has been contemplating selling his interest 
and that he would rather sell now than to be forced into 
supporting Roland Ashton for mayor. 

“Fellow workers, I believe we face a great opportunity. 
While we must never forget that the Master commanded us 
to minister to our brothers who are sick and afflicted, yet, 
we must believe that when the Master commanded us to do 
this, He gave us credit for having common sense enough to 
know that He wanted us much more to help our brothers to 
escape sickness and disease and suffering. It often is the 
highest wisdom to approach a good indirectly. How can 
we do this ? 

“Now, we are wise enough to know that we cannot do 
things for people. In the last analysis people must do for 


THE SERVERS 


103 


themselves. Our mission, therefore, to a large extent, must 
be that of conveying visions to the crowd. We must get 
people to want what they need. History reveals, if read 
aright, that whenever a people have decided they really 
wanted a thing, they have gotten that thing at any cost. And 
the blessed part is that we will not have to reach and influ- 
ence all of the people. We will not have to influence even 
the greater number; a majority is nothing more than a mass 
blocking the way of the few. Minorities have led, or driven 
or pushed, this old world along in every step of progress it 
has made. Sometimes the force has been but one man : a 
Moses, a Christ, a Columbus, a Luther — holding high a ban- 
ner pointing the Way of Progress. Our mission is to hold 
aloft a banner pointing the real way to the city crowd. We 
must cause them to catch a vision of a City of Cleanliness, a 
City Beautiful, a City Good, a City Joyous and Happy, a 
City whose Wheels of Industry are turned by the Motive 
Power of Love. How can we get the crowd to catch the 
vision? First, we, ourselves, must live with such a city in 
our souls ; and we must have faith in our vision and let our 
every move be toward its realization. And then, sooner or 
later, we must capture control of the channels for the con- 
veying of visions to the crowd. The only effective channel 
we now securely control is the pulpit. Thank God for the 
men in the pulpit ! They have stood by their tasks in sun- 
shine and in storm. The visions they are conveying are 
helping the crowd to be as good as it is. But other channels 
are conveying visions that are helping the crowd to be Not- 
Good. We must capture, control and cleanse these channels. 

“The press is a wonderful channel. We have an oppor- 
tunity now of capturing control of a portion of that channel. 
The amusements of the crowd is a wonderful channel. We 
already have control of a small portion of that channel, and 
are using it as much as it is possible to do under present 
supply conditions. The business of the crowd is a wonder- 
ful channel. We also have control of a portion of that chan- 
nel. With our new-found wealth, with the power of money, 
and of consecrated men, we should make wonderful prog- 
ress in capturing control of the channels for conveying 
visions to the crowd !” 


104 


THE SERVERS 


CHAPTER XII 
mart’s property 

I 

Two weeks later four people were seated in the richly 
furnished, spacious dining room of the Ashton home. Don- 
ald Ashton, Roland Ashton, Mary Ashton, and Mary’s aunt, 
who kept house for Mary and her father, had just finished 
supper and had pushed back their chairs from the table. 
The two men were smoking, and Roland Ashton was glanc- 
ing over the pages of the Evening Journal. 

“Who is John Trainor?” he asked abruptly, “the name 
sounds familiar.” 

“Oh, he’s a young fanatic who seems to be the main 
mover behind the Service enterprises — with some of which, 
no doubt, you are familiar,” Donald Ashton answered, with 
a covert sneer. 

“I see. He’s the fellow who stirred up the fuss some 
months back?” 

“The same,” Donald affirmed, grimly. 

Roland Ashton was hurriedly searching the columns of 
the Journal. 

“What do you know about him, Donald? He’s the new 
managing editor of the Journal.” 

“The devil he is !” quickly exclaimed Donald Ashton. 

“Not a line of explanation, on the editorial page or else- 
where, concerning the change,” said Roland. “During the 
past week I made every effort to find out just what the 
transfer of the Journal stock would mean to us. Every line 
of inquiry led me to Asa Selvidge, and he would make me 
no response, other than that he had purchased the interest 
for friends whose names he was not at liberty to divulge.” 

“The Journal is in unfriendly hands now, you can count 
on that,” said Donald ; “we have been betrayed prettily.” 

“It was something we could not possibly have anticipated. 
I had every assurance that the Journal had been whipped 
into line,” replied Roland. 

“Hello, the two brewery ads are out ; I wonder if that is 
significant of anything?” 


THE SERVERS 


105 


The ’phone bell sounded just then: a call for Roland from 
his headquarters. In response to this, the two men excused 
themselves, and a few minutes later drove away. 

Mary picked up the paper which her uncle had left on the 
table and began to search for John Trainor’s name. She 
had been a most interested listener to the conversation. 
Roland Ashton was a frequent visitor to his brother’s home, 
and they often discussed their business and political affairs 
at the table ; but this was the first time that Mary had ever 
listened with such eagerness. 

The next day the Morning News held a surprise for John 
Trainor. The two breweries had joined their advertising 
spaces, and across the top of this large space appeared in 
large letters : 

“A BLOW AT THE CITY’S PROGRESS !” 

Then followed in somewhat smaller letters : 

“Large Block of Journal Stock Changes Hands. New 
Management Declines to Accept Legitimate Business Ad- 
vertising !” 

Then followed a long statement of how the new manage- 
ment of the Journal had refused longer to publish the adver- 
tisements of the breweries; and how an investigation into 
the personnel of the new stockholders had tended to reveal 
that the future policy of the Journal would be in outright 
advocacy of Prohibition, and of such other pernicious poli- 
cies as would tend to block the city’s progress in many ways. 

On its editorial pages the News also referred to the 
change in the control of the Journal, and hazarded the pre- 
diction that in view of the changed personnel the future 
policy of the paper would be an entire reversal of what it 
had been in the past, and that it apparently would stand as 
an open advocate of Prohibition. 

John did not fully grasp the situation. He thought the 
whole matter simply was an outburst of wrath on the part 
of the brewers because of his refusal to continue their ads. 
As the morning wore on, however, and his advertising man- 
ager came reporting one advertiser after another demanding 
the cancellation of their contracts, and the subscription man- 
ager came reporting orders for the discontinuance of papers, 
he grasped the true meaning of the move on the part of the 


106 


THE SERVERS 


brewers and their cohorts. They sought to overwhelm him 
at the very start, thinking by forcing him to an immediate 
stand on the Prohibition question to weaken the Journal’s 
influence and to cripple it financially. 

Unfortunately for the brewers, they had not taken the 
full measure of the new managing editor. During the time 
the transfer of the paper was being effected John had not 
been idle, though all his activities had been noiseless. There 
was a tremendous power in John’s quiet way of doing things. 
He gathered his strength in quietness and exercised it in 
quietness. His strongest, choicest thoughts came to him in 
the stillness of the night hours — when the noise of mankind 
is hushed, and Nature is most free to breathe out her deep- 
est mysteries to be scattered on the wings of the night air 
uncrossed by the super-charged currents of Man’s restless 
activities. 

On the day after his associates gave him the authority to 
purchase the interest in the Journal, John had taken the 
matter up with Asa Selvidge, and with this intermediary, 
the purchase and transfer of interest had been quietly con- 
summated. John had immediately tendered his resignation 
to the Oil Company for which he was working and though 
he was not released at once he had been able to devote most 
of his time to the affairs of the Journal. His simple, earnest 
manner had quickly won for him the friendship and esteem 
of the retiring editor and had drawn forth help and infor- 
mation John had not expected. 

“I did not intend to leave these files of correspondence,” 
the editor had said, “but now I have decided to do so. If 
you will go through them carefully, you will be not only 
fore-warned but fore-armed in your fight with the Ashton 
crowd. They felt so secure in their power that they were 
very careless in their correspondence as well as in their 
actions.” 

“I will go through the files at once,” John had replied 
gratefully, “because Judge Harvey will make a vigorous 
campaign from the start. Now, what about the under- staff 
of workers ; have you any recommendations concerning 
these?” 

“You will have very few changes to make, I am sure. I 


THE SERVERS 


107 


have always insisted oi] such employes as can and will obey 
orders ; and they will serve you as loyally as they served me.” 

Of the candidates running- in opposition to Roland Ashton 
for mayor John had determined to support Judge Elarvey. 
The Judge was not an ideal candidate, but John realized 
that their program of reform would have to proceed slowly, 
that they must make the most of available material, and he 
felt that the election, even of Judge Harvey, would be a 
wonderful step forward. 

In the first issue of the Journal following the tirade of the 
brewers in the News, John fired his broadside — boldly using 
ammunition found in the files of correspondence turned 
over to him. 

Under the heading, “The Future Policy of This Paper/’ 
he stated that the word “Service” had been inserted in the 
title because the new owners proposed to run the paper with 
the sole idea of serving the people. They proposed to do 
this without fear or favor; and if any of their advertisers 
expected to influence the policy of the paper through their 
patronage they had as well cancel their contracts at once. 

Under the heading, “What It Costs to Have the Press 
Shackled,” he set out verbatim some correspondence of a 
few years back between the brewers and the former editor 
of the Journal. The brewers had demanded and secured, by 
threats of the withdrawal of advertising patronage, and of 
patronage from other enterprises controlled by* the stock- 
holders of the Journal, the support of the paper for two 
certain men. Both men had been elected to office. But 
several months later both had absconded, leaving their 
bondsmen, some twenty-five prominent business men of the 
city, losers to the extent of several thousand dollars each. 

Following this account, John published letters which had 
just passed between the brewers and the former editor, 
wherein the brewers demanded the support of the paper for 
Roland Ashton for mayor. He then stated that, coincidently 
and fortunately, the advertising contracts of the brewers had 
expired on the very day the new editor had taken active 
charge and he absolutely had refused to renew them. 

He wisely dodged, entirely, the issue of Prohibition. He 
did not propose to be drawn into a discussion of that issue 


108 


THE SERVERS 


when he knew it would result only, in injury to the paper 
without any resulting benefit to the cause. He felt sure his 
ignoring the issue would be overlooked in the sensation 
caused by the publication of the letters of the brewers — espe- 
cially as he made announcement of the intention of the 
Journal to support Judge Harvey, who was known as an 
ardent anti-Prohibitionist. 

The campaign began to wage furiously from the outset 
and the city became agitated over politics as it had not been 
for years. The throwing of the heavy weight of the Journal 
influence into the balance for Judge Harvey gave the issue 
an element of doubt that aroused the public and stirred the 
wrath of the opposition to the utmost. The retiring editor 
was not mistaken in his estimate of his employes. With 
few exceptions they rallied loyally to the support of John. 
And in the news columns, the wit columns, and even in the 
sport and society columns, they sent their shafts, sometimes 
disguised, but always sharp-pointed, into the ranks of the 
Ashton crowd. John seldom would see these items previous 
to their publication. He had turned his staff loose with but 
two restrictions : to make sure of the facts each time, and to 
hew to the truth always. 

The opposition struck back furiously not only at Judge 
Harvey and the Journal, but at the Service enterprises as 
well. Their attacks were underhanded, but John knew from 
whence thfey came. He recognized it as a blow from the 
brewers when he received notice to vacate the building occu- 
pied by Service Mission. As the Servers were renting the 
building only from month to month there was. no recourse 
but to comply with the order. A new location was secured, 
but one not nearly so well suited to the purposes of a mis- 
sion. A blow fell on Service Movie about the same time. 
When Carl hastened to look after the matter of securing a 
renewal of the lease on the Movie building he found other 
parties bidding for the place, and he was forced to pay an 
increased rental of several hundred dollars. A few of the 
Servers became alarmed at the success of these attacks. 

“It’s not so much what they have done, John/’ complained 
Ed with much concern, “but the indication of what they 
may do that worries me.” 


THE SERVERS 


109 


“They have done enough, Ed. They have stripped the 
Journal of advertising so completely as to put the paper on 
a losing basis. Were it not for our income from other 
sources the Journal would be effectively silenced.” 

“Em afraid we launched into reform before being suf- 
ficiently prepared,” returned Ed, dubiously. 

“Not a bit of it,” protested John; “what more would we 
want than our income from oil? The Lord is verily our 
supply. While we are too young to go before the people 
with any fight seriously involving the Service enterprises, 
surely we have strength to fight Donald Ashton and the 
brewery crowd to a finish. That’s the beauty of our organi- 
zation, Ed; we’ve got the men and we’ve got the money, 
and — jemini, how I glory in the scrap!” 

“I’m not so combative, John; I prefer progress in a more 
peaceful way.” 

“Love wins the noblest victories, ’tis true, Ed; but strife 
is a part of progress, and we shall overcome the evil in this 
city only by unceasing and unflinching warfare.” 

Just at this moment Charlie Inman came hurrying toward 
them excitedly. 

“I’ve been looking for you, John,” he cried, as he held out 
a paper. 

John’s face became very serious as he read through the 
paper. 

“I crowed too quick, Ed,” he said. “The Ashton crowd 
are more resourceful than I thought. This paper is a 
citation for us to appear in court, to defend the title to our 
oil land.” 

“But, John, I thought the title to the land had already 
been adjudicated,” contended Ed in a puzzled tone. 

“Not as to the parties to this suit,” explained John. “This 
is an entirely new cause of action and more dangerous than 
we fought with the other parties.” 

“You don’t mean they might beat us, John,” cried 
Charlie. 

“Any case going into a court-house these days, Charlie, 
goes into a temple of doubt, and the issue becomes doubly 
uncertain when a cause of action such as set out in this 


110 


THE SERVERS 


instrument is backed by the unscrupulous crowd we’ve got 
to fight.” 

“They have the men and they have the money, John,” 
remarked Ed. 

“Aye, so they have, old man, but the contest will not be 
unequal, for we, too, have the men and the money — and 
something besides !” 

Close investigation into the merits of the suit convinced 
John more than ever of its seriousness, and he called a 
meeting of his associates in order to put the matter clearly 
before them. 

“The title to the land,” he pointed out, “is still in Charlie’s 
name and, therefore, the style of the suit is ‘Ashton vs. 
Inman.’ We will be brought only into that part which seeks 
to enjoin us from further production of oil while the case 
is pending. Donald Ashton’s claim to the land is through a 
deed from a party named Austin Thomas. Thomas claims 
to have acquired title through inheritance from his mother. 
Our title to the land is through a deed from Austin Thomas’ 
father to Charlie’s grandfather. Austin Thomas’ father’s 
title was through a will from his wife, Austin Thomas’ 
mother. 

“The decisive question at issue is this : Was Austin 
Thomas born before, or after, the making of the will wherein 
his mother bequeathed the property to his father? If it is a 
fact that Thomas was born after the execution of the moth- 
er’s will, then we are gone. That is, we are almost certain 
to lose one-half of our land at once, and the other half will 
be put in serious jeopardy; for there is indeed a technical 
defect in Charlie’s chain of title which may be turned to our 
dangerous injury by foes so unscrupulous as the Ashtons.” 

“It seems there is nothing we can do just now but throw 
every energy into the fight to defeat Donald Ashton’s claim 
to the land,” exclaimed Harrison Nelms. 

“That’s what we must do, Harrison,” assented John. 
“Fortunately, the effort to enjoin our further production of 
oil during the pendency of the suit will not amount to more 
than tieing up one-half of the proceeds from what we do 
produce. That will cut our present income in half, of 


THE SERVERS 


111 


course, but still leave us ample funds to employ the best 
legal talent and to give them the fight of our lives.” 

After further discussion of the means and methods of 
meeting the situation the company adjourned, with the ex- 
pressed determination to go ahead as though a serious dis- 
aster did not threaten. 


ii 

One afternoon there appeared on the local page of the 
Journal a long account of a suicide. 

“MOST BEAUTIFUL DENIZEN OF THE UNDER- 
WORLD TAKES OWN LIFE. Crumpled Letter in Her 
Hand, Written on Stationery of Ashton Campaign Com- 
mittee, Only Clue to Motive.” 

The suicide had been discovered in the early morning 
hours. The letter referred to was merely a few lines scribbled 
in pencil : “I told you I had paid my last time for you.” 
This was signed “Billie.” The reference evidently was to 
an attached bill for “one month’s rent” made out on the 
bill-head of “Ellison Hardy, Agent.” The sharp young re- 
porter had pursued his investigations to the end, and had 
found that “Ellison Hardy” was a “rental agent for Donald 
Ashton,” and that he “looks exclusively after the rental of 
properties owned by the Ashton Estate.” 

John was not the only one to read the account with 
special interest. Late that afternoon, Mary Ashton, search- 
ing through the Journal — as she had done each day since 
John Trainor had taken charge and since the campaign had 
opened — caught the headlines containing the reference to 
the Ashton campaign committee, and she read the account 
with startled interest. 

A shiver ran through her as she read of the poor girl’s 
death, and she stared with horror at the repeated appearance 
of the Ashton name. The “Ashton Estate” mentioned was 
in reality her mother’s, the “Mary” Ashton Estate, and when 
she reached the part of the account referring to the “Ashton 
Estate” she clutched convulsively at a small locket which 
hung at her throat. With tears filling her eyes, she sprung 
the catch and gazed at the delicately chiseled face of her 
mother — beautiful and touching with tender care-lines that 
marked it in spite of her having had wealth to meet every 


112 


THE SERVERS 


want. Mary trembled with agitation as she was forced to 
embrace in her mind simultaneously thoughts of the horrible 
suicide of the wanton woman, and memories of the beauty 
and benevolence of her mother’s life. A year ago — a few 
months ago — she would have read the account and would 
have tossed the paper aside without a memory retained of 
what she had read. But during the past few months, Mary 
had been quietly experiencing a conscious regeneration of 
her soul ; she was beginning to think through the days where 
she had merely laughed or fretted through them before. She 
shuddered now with horror as she thought how near her 
mother’s and her own name had approached appearing in 
the account of the suicide of the wanton woman. 

“Why did not the paper call it the ‘Mary’ Ashton Estate?” 
she wondered. And she thought of John. Was he respon- 
sible for the printing of the article. Had he read it before 
its publication? And again she meditated— as she often had 
before — as to John Trainor’s real nature. Was he one to 
move on rough-shod in the pursuit of a purpose? neither 
asking nor giving quarter, nor questioning on whom his 
blows were to fall? 

That night Donald Ashton did not come home to supper; 
it often was his habit to eat down town, and Mary did not 
see him until the next morning at breakfast. 

“Father, do you know how near mother’s name and mine 
came to appearing in connection with the suicide of that 
unfortunate woman?” 

Donald Ashton was surprised that his daughter should be 
concerned enough to ask him such a question; and he did 
not take her seriously, but answered carelessly as he turned 
away : 

“I read the article, Mary, but did not give it a thought. 
It is a fair sample of the dirty work of that miserable paper.” 

“The Estate really owns the property, does it not, father?” 

“I do not know. Ellison Hardy handles the properties of 
the Estate,” he answered, with a tinge of sharpness in his 
tone. 

“Do you think the Estate should own such property, 
father?” 

The banker was nettled as well as surprised by his daugh- 


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ter’s persistence. He had not noticed, during the recent 
months, the change that had been coming over Mary in her 
attitude toward many things. He knew very little of her 
affairs, and she knew still less of his. 

“Why do you concern yourself with this matter Mary? 
Someone has to own such property. Would you turn the 
inmates out into the street? 

Mary had never given any thought to the troublesome 
social problems of this world, and she had no ready answer 
to her father’s question. She could speak only from a pure 
woman’s intuitive horror of the thought of having her name 
connected with such ownership. 

“I, do not want Mother’s Estate to own such property, 
father.” 

“Very well, Miss Mary, I will let you tell Ellison Hardy 
just what sort of property you do want the Estate to own.” 

Her father spoke in the manner and with the tone of 
voice he always used when she sought to be self-willed. 
Donald Ashton considered his reply would be the end of 
the matter. And it might have been, if Mary had been able 
to banish from her mind the horror of the recurring thought 
of having her mother’s name and her own connected with 
the ownership of such property. The thought returned as 
fast as it was banished, and she determined on her course. 
She ’phoned to Mrs. Andrews, on whom she leaned in many 
ways since her mother’s death, and made an appointment 
to drive by for her at ten o’clock. At the appointed hour 
they continued on to the office of Ellison Hardy, and on 
the way Mary explained to Mrs. Andrews the purpose of 
her errand. 

They found the agent in his office on the third floor of 
the First National Bank Building, and he seemed very much 
disturbed at Mary’s appearance. 

“Mr. Hardy, I wish you would glance at this article; and 
then I want to tell you that I desire you to dispose of all 
such property as that which may be owned by the Estate.” 

Ellison Hardy glanced at the article with lifted brows. 

“Miss Ashton, that class of property yields an excellent 
rental, and your father expects high returns from the funds 
he entrusts to me.” 

8 


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“Nevertheless, it is my desire that you dispose of all such 
property at once,” answered Mary firmly. 

The agent was apparently nettled by her reply. 

“Very well, Miss Ashton; and are there any other invest- 
ments with which you are dissatisfied?” 

“I am not familiar with the properties of the Estate, but 
I will tell you that I do not want, and will no longer have, 
ap interest in any property that a good woman would be 
ashamed to own.” 

“That is too uncertain a standard for me to be guided 
by,” protested the agent; “different women have different 
ideas of goodness. I will tell you, however, that the Estate 
owns a number of saloons, and very many shares of brew- 
ery stock.” 

Mary had not anticipated such an answer, and she was 
clearly confused. Her crowd drank beer and wine, and her 
father had been connected with the breweries even during 
the lifetime of her mother. But her new conscience was 
whispering her warning. The agent saw her confusion. 

“It’s very difficult, Miss Ashton, to mix business ethics 
with other ethics,” he said with a half-cynical smile. 

“I want you to prepare, Mr. Hardy, a list of all the prop- 
erties of the Estate, showing the purposes for which they are 
used,” she answered him quickly and firmly, with a new 
thrill of life running through her as she did so. She had 
determined, on the instant, to take an active interest in the 
management of her properties, and the very thought of the 
assumption of such responsibility caused her a thrill almost 
of delight at what she felt to be her discovery of a large 
area of life she hitherto had missed. 

Before Ellison Hardy was able to reply, the ’phone rang, 
and in response to the message received he turned and 
spoke to one of his clerks. 

“Brown, look at the record of ten-twelve Mill Street and 
see what Elmer Reeves owes.” 

“Eight dollars for four weeks’ rent,” Brown replied after 
a hasty examination of the records. 

“Eight dollars for four weeks’ rent, Mr. Trainor,” Ellison 
Hardy spoke over the ’phone. 

In a moment he turned to Brown again. “Send John 


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Trainor a bill for the eight dollars, and for another four 
weeks’ rent in advance, and then send him the bill each 
month,” — and he added as he turned to the ladies, “Trainor 
will get sick of such business sometime.” 

“Does that property belong to the Estate?” Mary asked, 
with just a faint blush, of which she alone was conscious. 

“Yes, ma’am ; it is one of the tenement properties of the 
Estate.” 

“And where is Mill Street?” 

He explained to her where Mill Street was, and in a few 
minutes she and Mrs. Andrews left the office. 

hi 

Following the directions of Ellison Hardy, Mary drove 
out through the main factory section of the city searching 
for Mill Street, and when she reached this she turned the 
car down its narrow way. She was compelled to drive 
slowly to avoid the ragged children playing in the street, 
and that she might search for the desired number. 

“There’s ten-four,” Mrs. Andrews indicated. 

Ten-four and ten-six were numbers over the doors of a 
saloon at the corner, and then followed ten-eight and ten-ten 
over the door of a dingy looking shop. The next number 
was too dim to be seen, but Mary decided it must be ten- 
twelve, and she stopped her car across the street. As she 
had no definite purpose, she sat in the car gazing over and 
up at the big building opposite. It was smoky black, and 
fore-boding with its broken windows stuffed and patched 
with papers and rags. 

The saloon, the dingy shop, and the door at ten-twelve 
were all part of the same building. A small wagon, loaded 
with a mixture of household goods, stood backed against 
the curbing in front of the door at ten-twelve, and a little 
woman, wrapped in a shawl and holding a baby in her arms, 
stood by it talking to a man who was evidently the driver. 

“Would you like to inspect the building, Mary?” Mrs. 
Andrews asked. 

“Why yes, I would,” answered Mary, grateful for her 
friend’s mature confidence. They left the car and crossed 
over the street. 

“Are you moving out?” Mrs. Andrews asked the little 


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woman in the shawl — smiling at the tiny baby as she did so. 

The young woman stared at them as though she did not 
fully comprehend their presence. 

“No,” she said, slowly, “we are just moving back in.” 

“Does Mr. Reeves live upstairs?” Mary inquired without 
knowing why she did so. 

“Yes; Mr. Reeves is my husband; why?” replied the 
young woman, apprehensively, while she stared at Mary. 

The quick and unexpected answer and question discon- 
certed Mary, and she was sorry for her thoughtless inquiry. 
However, she did not have to make reply, for just then a 
trimly-dressed, well-preserved, middle-aged woman rushed 
up to them. 

“Why, Mary Ashton and Mrs. Andrews, what are you 
doing here?” 

“We might ask what you are doing here — but then we 
know,” smiled Mrs. Andrews. And they did know that 
Mrs. Davis was there as a tireless Settlement worker on her 
rounds. 

“And what does this mean, young woman, are you mov- 
ing out?” Mrs. Davis had turned and was speaking to 
Mrs. Reeves. 

“No, we’re just moving back in, Mrs. Davis,” Mrs. Reeves 
answered; and then went on to explain: “You see, Elmer 
has been sick for so long and unable to work, and though 
I have earned a little money and we have sold everything 
we could spare, we just have not been able to keep up with 
the rent, and the agent told us we must move out. Mr. 
Marvis said we could move Elmer into his room until he 
was stronger, and Miss Martha said I could move down to 
her place and stay with her. Miss Martha lives down the 
street and when I took the furniture down there Granny 
Diggs saw me, and she said I must not leave Elmer at all. 

“She would not listen to me but went out and ’phoned to 
a Mr. John Trainor about the rent. And when she came 
back I cried and told her that Elmer would not accept any- 
thing from charity folks. But she said it wasn’t charity ; 
that Mr. John had been paying her rent for more’n two years 
and that when she had the rheumatism so bad she couldn’t 
work she did not have to worry about being put out; and 


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117 


that just as soon as she would get well she would catch up 
with Mr. John. He lets folks do that. Elmer says he never 
has had to accept charity, and I am so worried. Won’t you 
go up and talk to him, Mrs. Davis?” 

“Of course I will, and if I can’t convince him, I will send 
for John Trainor, who can. Every time I get sick myself 
something goes wrong. Mary, don’t you and Mrs. Andrews 
want to go in this tenement with me and see how your 
neighbors live?” 

Mary was glad of the invitation and the four women went 
up the dirty, dingy stairs. 

That night, when Mary met her father at supper, she 
faced him with a new courage and a new determination. 

“Ellison Hardy tells me you were to see him, Mary.” 

“Yes, father, and you will be surprised when I tell you 
I have determined to take an active interest in the invest- 
ment of the funds of the Estate, and in the management of 
its properties.” 

“It seems to me you’re starting out in a very ruthless 
way, Mary. Don’t you know there is such a thing as bank- 
ruptcy?” 

“Yes, father, but you must not judge me too quickly; per- 
haps I may yet show that I have some of your business 
sagacity. At least, I promise I shall not cost the Estate 
any more than I am costing it with my expensive balls and 
other diversions.” 

Donald Ashton was pleased with his daughter’s answer, 
and was really gratified at her determination to test her 
ability in the management of her properties. 

“Perhaps you will let some of us advise and help you, 
Mary?” 

“I shall expect your counsel, father, and will feel hurt 
if it is not freely given to me.” 


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CHAPTER XIII 
“good-bye, little newsboy" 

I 

With a furious mayoralty campaign waging John’s new 
duties as managing editor kept his energies keyed to the 
top-notch. But he was constantly on the watch for new 
ways to serve, and, rubbing elbows daily with the newsboys 
their problem challenged his spirit stronger each day. De- 
termining to attack this problem, he made an appointment 
for consultation with the officials of the Juvenile Protective 
Association. 

“Gentlemen," he said, when they were seated, “I want to 
do away with the newsboys on our city streets, and I want 
your co-operation." 

“The newsboy is a pretty old institution, Mr. Trainor; do 
you think we can do away with him entirely?" asked the 
president of the Association. 

“So is the monarchial form of government an old in- 
stitution," John replied, “many centuries older than the 
newsboy ; but the old orders must give way before the new 
as the world marches onward to its greater destiny. We 
can do away with the newsboy if we can have the proper 
co-operation of those who should be interested." 

“That co-operation will be hard to get," the president 
said. “We have earnestly endeavored to secure the co- 
operation of our city officials in the enforcement of two 
laws which, if enforced, would solve the problem of the 
newsboy. We have a compulsory education law and a law 
prohibiting the employment of child labor, but our officials 
tell us that the sentiment in this city is not favorable to the 
enforcement of' these laws." 

John laughed lightly as he replied: “I am what you 
might call a rabid pessimist concerning the progress of 
reformation through dependence on statute laws. The 
sooner Christian men leave off reliance on statutory enact- 
ments and demand of themselves and of their neighbors that 
they live up to the full measure of the moral laws will 
society go forward and upward with giant strides. Why 


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119 


do we want our duties written in code law before being 
willing to live up to them ? There is a disposition — rampant 
today — on the part of people not to want to be good indi- 
vidually, or in small groups, but to wait until the mass is 
willing to be good. ‘The other fellow does it/ ‘They all do 
it, why not me?’— and so with our easy morality. In this 
instance of the newsboy, let us forget statutory enactments 
and simply face the problem as we would face it if our 
own blood brothers and our own sons were on the streets 
and needed to be gotten off.” 

“You will have our heartiest co-operation,” the president 
said. “If we get the newsboys off the streets and into school 
we will save many of them from the life of criminals.” 

“Yes,” assented John quickly, “and double the benefit to 
society by making them worthy citizens. I suggest that you 
gentlemen take the matter up with Mr. Carlton, the city 
circulation manager of the News, who, I understand, is a 
Christian man ; at least, he is nominally Christian, — we can 
guess the ‘nominally’ nine times out of ten — ,” smiled John, 
“and if Mr. Carlton will promise his co-operation our suc- 
cess is assured. I have no doubt the Evening Press will 
follow the lead of the larger papers. Of course, the whole 
matter must appear to originate with your organization so 
there will be no jealousy, or no impulse to combat the propo- 
sition of a rival.” 

“How will you then handle the distribution of the papers, 
Mr. Trainor?” one of the officials inquired. 

“My plan is to substitute older boys for the younger ones ; 
and when I say ‘older’ boys I mean gray-haired and white- 
haired boys — you needn’t smile — for there are many such 
‘boys’ who would vend the papers with the same vim and 
zeal as the younger fellows, and who would welcome an 
opportunity for still earning their own livelihood. Let us 
put the boys in school where they belong and make a place 
for these worthy old men who are at present crowded out 
of industry.” 

“Do you think the public would be satisfied with the 
service of the old men?” 

“The old men would serve the public as efficiently, if not 
more so, than the boys,” answered John. “And we can 


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make the change so quietly that the public will not wake up 
until after it has been made. Of course, if we should create 
a lot of sentimental fuss over ‘saving the newsboy’ the 
chronic reactionaries would oppose the move as though it 
meant the overthrow of the government.” 

“What about the support taken away from the newsboys’ 
families?” 

“Other support equal to that taken away would have to 
be supplied in each instance,” John replied. “This could be 
done by providing more remunerative, or steadier, employ- 
ment to other members of the family.” 

During the next few weeks, the newsboys disappeared one 
by one from the city streets. Some were entered in the 
public schools, some in other schools, and some found them- 
selves in Service Children’s Home. Men who were beyond 
the school age, many of whom were white-haired, took the 
places of the boys and called and sold the papers with the 
same enthusiasm and excitement as had nerved the younger 
fellows to their tasks. And many an aged heart beat with 
the triumphant throb of a revived interest in life. The pub- 
lic missed the boys and commented, individually, on their 
absence, but there was no crowd knowledge that it had said 
“Good-bye, little newsboy.” 

“It’s great, Ed,” John remarked to his closest friend, “to 
think of the boys spending the morning of their lives in the 
schools, and of the old men spending the evening of their 
lives in useful service rather than in wretched idleness. 
Now, I can scatter our paper over the streets without stings 
of conscience!” 

“Yes, John, and so can I buy a paper now without stings 
of conscience. Even I, thoughtless I, used to grieve when 
I bought a paper from a ragged, dirty, bright-faced boy who 
ought to be in school. The newsboy should never have had 
a place on the streets of the cities.” 

ii 

Three months had passed since the first oil well had been 
brought in, and during this time the Servers had made won- 
derful progress in all departments. Another gusher had been 
added to the first one, and the drillers were due very soon to 
complete two other wells. Fortunately for the Servers, the 


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121 


court had upheld John’s plea to be permitted to produce the 
oil as rapidly as possible in order to be protected against the 
other companies whose pipes were helping to drain the 
underground pockets of oil in that section. Of course, one- 
half of the proceeds from the oil produced went into the 
custody of the court to await the outcome of the litigation 
involving the title to the land. The stores had all increased 
their stocks and business, and two new stores had been add- 
ed to the chain. Mike was making things hum at the farm, 
having gathered around him a motley crew from the Mis- 
sion, some of whom had definitely cast their lots with him. 
He was now milking seventy-five cows and yet always ask- 
ing for more. 

“Just as soon as you have a man to manage the city end, 
Mister John, I want to start a delivery route.” 

“And then Mike, what?” 

“Ice cream, Mister John, Service Ice Cream as well as 
Service Milk and Service Butter. Why not, sir? But we 
must first have a city plant and more men and cows at the 
farm.” 

Service Children’s Home also was in a flourishing con- 
dition. Mary and others were giving it such generous sup- 
port that the expense rested lightly on the shoulders of the 
Servers. Asa Selvidge was a liberal contributor each month. 
He had grown very friendly with Brother Mills and was a 
frequent visitor to the Home. Two young women, former 
members of Brother Mills’ church, had joined the Servers 
and were assisting Mrs. Mills and the matron in the care 
and schooling of the children. The frail young man who 
had worked with Mike at the dairy had now been trans- 
ferred to the Home, and was enthusiastic in helping the 
children with their chickens and gardens. 

Service Movie had been a success from the opening, and 
one day Carl spoke to John about increasing its seating 
capacity. 

“We are showing to crowded houses all the time, and 
either should enlarge or branch out. What is your idea, 
John?” 

“It depends entirely, Carl, on what the prospects are for 
securing another location. Of course, we want to get a 


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broader hold on the amusements of the crowd as soon as 
possible, but with our finances so disastrously threatened by 
the case in court we must be very careful about making new 
or uncertain investments.” 

“I believe we can buy the ‘Crown/ John, which has a 
fine location not too close to the Service/’ 

“Investigate, Carl ; if it’s a paying proposition we can 
afiford to buy.” 

“If we buy, would your idea be to call it Service Movie 
No. 2?” 

“I think not, Carl ; we can avoid and disarm much oppo- 
sition to our work if we go about it quietly. I do not think 
that anything would be gained by changing the name.” 

hi 

The day of the election rolled around, and that night John 
and his friends and associates gathered at the offices of the 
Journal to receive the returns. From the very first box 
coming in it was easily to be seen that the contest had been 
very close. As box after box was heard from the vote, 
shifted one way and then the other. The council candidates 
were running even with their respective leaders. The re- 
sult was in doubt until the last big box was reported late at 
night; then John and his friends were able to go home with 
great rejoicing, because of a small plurality for Judge Har- 
vey and his set of councilmen. John realized that the result 
was a tremendous blow to the Ashton crowd, and he knew, 
too, that the Journal deserved a large share of credit for 
the Harvey victory. 

But what were to be the results of the victory? Some of 
the fruits were to be gathered early. On the first day of the 
new administration, John’s old friend the Chief was ap- 
pointed back to the office from which he had been ousted, 
and was given orders to enforce the laws. Not all of the 
laws, of course, but John had had positive promises from 
Judge Harvey, in consideration of the support of the Jour- 
nal, that open gambling in the city would be suppressed ; 
that the saloons would be compelled to close their doors on 
Sundays, and that the road-houses and down-town rooming 
houses of a nefarious character would be forced out of 
business. 


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123 


Several weeks after the induction into office of the new 
administration, a committee from the Ministerial Alliance 
called on John to ascertain if the Journal would join in an 
endeavor to close the Reservation. 

“It’s too early for the fight, gentlemen/’ he replied. “With- 
out the support of the administration, and certainly with its 
opposition, we could not hope to succeed. It simply would 
mean the scattering of the evil. In my opinion we are not 
yet prepared for the fight. It would be wiser if we waited 
until we are prepared to rebuild better as we tear down. 
Our work must be constructive as well as destructive. In 
order effectively to close the Reservation we must close the 
recruiting stations; must clean up the public dance halls, 
the vaudeville shows, the pool rooms, the rotten amusement 
parks, and other such places. But when we attempt to 
take the Bad out of the crowd-life, we should be prepared 
to fill the vacancy with Good. The crowd-craving is for 
fellowship ; its supreme craving is for the fellowship of the 
sexes, and we must meet this perfectly natural craving if 
we would effectively solve the crowd’s problem.” 

“How would you have us to co-operate with you in order 
eventually to close the Reservation?” asked one of the 
committee. 

“Vice conditions here will not be considerably lessened 
until our whole city has become regenerated ; if our Method- 
ist brethren please, our city must experience a conversion. 
And this will be only through the crowd catching an in- 
creasing vision of a city truly worth while. You can join 
your earnest efforts with ours in striving for a ‘City Better’ 
rather than the ‘City Bigger’ that is clamored for by all 
commercial interests. 

“Also, I trust you will give your earnest attention to the 
matter of providing your people with wholesome social 
fellowship. In my big church we have socials so far apart 
we forget from one meeting to the other. 

“But do not mistake me, I do not mean to place the social 
side of your work above your work in the pulpit, — as much 
as I differ from you on many of the doctrines you preach. 
But you call your congregation your flock, and truly they 
are your flock, and just as truly you need, as their shepherd. 


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to watch over, and to administer to, as far as in your power 
lies, their week-day needs as well as their Sunday needs. 
Your care must include their social needs as well as their 
spiritual yearnings. Without intending to belittle the worth 
of the people, we do know that the Master was right in 
calling them His sheep. They live and eat and move for- 
ward in droves, which we call crowds, and they have need 
of Good Shepherds to guide them. 

“To be perfectly frank with you, I do not believe it is 
the men in the pulpit who so much are failing in their duty ; 
you, at least, are devoting your lives to the Service of the 
Master with the best light you have before you. It is the 
men in the pew who are wholly laying down on their jobs 
as Christians. If all the laymen who call themselves Chris- 
tians would devote but one tithe of their energies to the 
work of God, His kingdom would soon come on earth 
among men !” 

“We thank you for your tribute,” one of the committee 
said, “and we can confess our admiration for the wonderful 
work of your organization.” 

“We are content,” smiled John, “to accept St. Paul’s 
interpretation : ‘Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfill 
the law of Christ’ ; and we are finding our burdens delight- 
fully easy. And now, I will mention one way in particular 
you gentlemen can co-operate with us, and that is by aiding 
in the establishment of a Home for delinquent girls, though 
preferably to be called by some less objectionable name. As 
I stated, we must prepare to stop the recruiting if we expect 
effectually to close the Reservation.” 

He did not think it necessary to tell them that his decisive 
reason for desiring to postpone a conflict over the closing 
of the vice district was because of the disaster threatening 
their finances through the uncertainty of the outcome of the 
suit involving their oil properties. 

“It would be like an army attacking while its supply train 
was being held up,” he remarked to Harrison Nelms after 
relating his conversation with the ministers. 

“After their decisive defeat at the polls, John, the oppo- 
sition absolutely would resort to violent methods if we pro- 
voked them to another contest just now.” 


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125 


“Right you are, Harrison. And we cannot afford a fight 
while our finances are in such jeopardy. Fortunately, the 
enemy will remain quiescent for a while because of the 
utter confidence of winning the oil suit. They hope by crip- 
pling our finances to speedily bring us to our knees.” 

“What a bomb will explode in their midst, John,” exulted 
Harrison, “when their two supposedly star witnesses turn 
out to be our own head-liner witnesses !” 

“You must not be too confident,” warned John, hastily; 
“and above all things, be careful with your conversation; 
the very walls have dictaphone ears these days.” 

The “star witnesses” referred to were two old people who 
claimed that Austin Thomas (through whom Donald Ash- 
ton was claiming title to the oil land) was born in their 
home. Harrison, with the aid of a detective, had ferreted 
out the aged couple after weeks of diligent search, locating 
them in another part of the State where Donald Ashton had 
had them removed to prevent, as he led them to believe, 
“your being harassed and annoyed by the other side, if they 
learn that you are to testify in the case.” 

After discovering the whereabouts of the witnesses John 
had taken the matter in his own hands, for he realized that 
on the testimony of these two persons would hinge the out- 
come of the case. The old couple, it seems, had honestly 
believed the date of Austin Thomas’ birth to be a year later 
than it actually was, and they had so represented it to Don- 
ald Ashton; and on the strength of their statement Ashton 
had made the purchase from Austin Thomas. When John 
found them he succeeded, by the aid of documents, in con- 
vincing the couple of their mistake; but, under the circum- 
stances,, they were loath to admit it. The old man was 
crafty; and while the old woman had what is known as a 
“better side” to her nature, it was hardened. John appealed 
to a minister living in the neighborhood, and pressure was 
brought to bear on the consciences of the old people. Not 
daring to make too many visits to the town, John was forced 
to leave the burden of persuasion to the minister. The latter 
wrote in time that he was confident the old couple would 


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testify to the truth when placed on the witness stand. There 
was nothing to do, John told his comrades, but constantly 
to watch developments. 



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127 


CHAPTER XIV 

JOHN MEETS MARY 

I 

Ed had closed his store, and he and John were standing 
on the sidewalk watching the passing .throngs. 

“The day has just begun for most of them/’ commented 
John; “they do not feel that they begin really to live until 
now. They are hurrying ‘homeward’ as fast as they can; 
but in the next hour or so they’ll be hurrying back and seek- 
ing the movies, the theatres, the cabarets, the clubs, the 
saloons, the pool rooms, the dance halls — where they think 
they will find Life. The play-hours of the city crowd are 
just beginning. 

“But you will notice that some are not hurrying, Ed ; there 
are no play-hours ahead for some. Many of the young 
women are on their way to their ‘homes’ at the Dalton and 
other such places, and many will not dare to venture forth 
again tonight — being fearful of the snares and temptations 
which they know would assail them on every side. They 
will pass the lonely hours in their rooms with the ‘hope de- 
ferred which maketh the heart sick.’ Many of their bolder 
sisters, however, will venture forth ; some in secure con- 
fidence, others in desperation, seeking the movies and the 
dance halls where they know they will find the young men — 
the young men who have no timidity, no social standards— 
God save the mark! — to hold them back, but who feel free 
in the wild abandon of youth to fare forth in quest of a good 
time. Thank God, those who find their way into the Service 
and Crown Movies will have no blight cast on their morals ! 
But we must not be content, Ed; there is no reason now 
why we should not extend our work. I think the time has 
come for us to seek control of the dance halls as well as the 
movies.” 

“But, John, our church is opposed to dancing.” 

“So am I, Ed, as a loyal church member and by con- 
viction. But when it comes to choosing between a viciously 
conducted and a cleanly conducted dance hall, of course I’m 
in favor of the clean one, even if, to make it clean, I must 


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run it myself. That’s dangerous doctrine, I admit; ex- 
tremely dangerous sometimes in its application; but I feel 
that it would be justified in this instance. Until we can 
provide a substitute for the dance, the best we can do is to 
exercise such an overshadowing influence over it as will 
limit its evils.” 

“Would you be in favor of a large municipal dance hall?” 

“I certainly would not, Ed. That would tend the more 
securely to entrench the dance, and make it harder eventu- 
ally to be thrown into the discard of things not worth while. 
Besides, as Christians, we cannot avoid our duties by seek- 
ing to shove them onto the government. And again, Ed, 
we are not educated to the point of municipal ownership 
and control; we are not so fortunate in this respect as are 
many other cities. We have not caught the vision; we still 
expect and tolerate rottenness in the administration of our 
affairs, and naturally rottenness follows that expectation.” 

“With all viciousness excluded from our dance halls, 
could we still hold the attendance of the crowd?” 

“Why certainly, Ed; just as we hold it at the movies. 
The crowd is not necessarily vicious ; the whole trouble lies 
in the fact that good men are leaving it to evil men to satisfy 
the desires of the crowd.” 

“Have you any particular dance hall in mind we might 
purchase?” 

“The ‘Dreamland’ is the largest and most popular in the 
city and also probably the most vicious.” 

“Would it be your idea to call it the Service dance hall?” 

“I would make no change in the name, but would let the 
transfer be effected as quietly as possible. Reformers, like 
prophets, are without honor in their own districts. Some 
of our works we may advertise ; some will advertise us ; but 
most of them must be without the advertising feature, and 
even without the Service name.” 

John discussed the matter with his other associates, and 
within ten days they had taken over the lease to the Dream- 
land. The hall was placed in charge of a young couple who 
had reputations as dancing masters, and who John knew to 
be of high moral character. 


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II 

When John first came to the city, he soon began making 
friends in the Mill Street district, and it had been his habit 
to visit them every few weeks. But of late, his duties had 
been so onerous he had neglected his friends in that section. 
And so one afternoon he decided not to delay a visit any 
longer. He usually paid Granny Diggs the first call, who 
was one of the first friends he had made and she always 
gave him valuable information about others whom he had 
helped at various times. When he reached the tenement 
in which Granny lived, and she came to the door, she showed 
great delight at seeing him. 

“Come right in, come right in, Mr. John,” she beamed 
with a wide, sweeping bow. 

John stepped inside and Granny closed the door. Then 
John quickly discovered that he was trapped in the room 
with Mary Ashton ! Mary had been sitting in a corner and 
he did not see her until she rose. 

“This is him, Miss Mary, this is him, the finest gentleman 
in the city. That’s Miss Mary, Mister John, Miss Mary 
Ashton, a fine lady, indeed,” cried Gfanny Diggs, while 
standing with her back to the door. 

If the stars had commenced to fall John could not have 
been more startled or surprised than he was facing Mary 
Ashton in such surroundings ; but he bowed gravely in re- 
sponse to Granny’s introduction. 

“I am very glad to meet you, Miss Ashton,” he said. 

“Thank you,” she replied, gravely nodding her head. 

He was surprised that she made no effort to escape; and 
so, feeling that it was his move, he turned for a way out. 
Granny had shuffled across the room and he stepped for- 
ward and quickly opened the door as though afraid she 
would stop him. 

“I must go up to see Robert, Granny,” he said, in ex- 
planation of his movements. 

“Yes, but what bein’s the use of running off when I have 
such a fine lady visitor?” 

“I did not see Robert last time and I must surely see him 
now,” he answered, and added quickly, as though afraid to 
risk further conversation, “and so I will say, good evening.” 

9 


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Mary had not tried to escape, but she regretted having 
been formally introduced to John Trainor. She was not 
ready to meet him, though she could not clearly analyze her 
feelings in this respect. She knew that he interested her 
deeply — had long since done so even against her will. But 
if she knew that she did not understand him she did not 
want to meet him in close acquaintance in order to do so. 
She readily admitted to herself that he held for her an 
intense fascination ; in fact, he was the only man who ever 
had. But of love between them she had not even considered. 

She had learned many interesting things about John while 
frequenting the Mill Street district, and she found that 
Granny Diggs was not the only person who thought him 
“the finest gentleman in the city.” What she heard was an 
inspiration to her in her own work. When she had under- 
taken the management of her properties she had found her- 
self met upon the very threshold with not only an utter 
ignorance of business affairs but with an utter ignorance of 
what she desired to accomplish. The half-day with Mrs. 
Davis on her Settlement rounds, however, had served as an 
inspiration as well as a revelation to her. And from that 
very day, with Mrs. Davis and the public library as allies, 
Mary had applied herself to an intense study of social prob- 
lems. Before many weeks passed she had become one of 
the most enthusiastic uplift workers in the city. John had 
missed her from the choir three successive Sundays, and 
had heard Mrs. Mills remark at the Children's Home that 
“Mary is out of the city,” but did not dream she had gone 
on a tour of investigation of Settlement conditions and prob- 
lems in other cities. Nor did he know that she had come 
back an uplift enthusiast on everything from the playground 
to loan art exhibits. 

Potentially, Mary had much of the executive ability of 
her father; and in the months to come she was to lead a 
group of volunteers who were destined to accomplish won- 
ders for their city. More experienced workers than herself 
gave her advice that awoke within her caution and wisdom. 
And in all that she was to do she was to have her father’s 
co-operation and good wishes. Even Ellison Hardy, as soon 
as he was sure of a permanent change in masters, had begun 
to serve her as loyally as he had ever served her father. 


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131 


CHAPTER XV 

THE "CROWD” AGAIN 

I 

With two additional wells having been brought in, the 
Servers now had four producing oil wells, yielding them an 
income of nearly five thousand dollars a day. The major 
responsibility of looking after, the production of the oil had 
devolved upon Harrison Nelms, operating under the author- 
ity of the court. A young man experienced in social work 
had relieved Harrison of his duties at the Mission. 

Two additional stores, Nos. 7 and 8, had been opened with 
two members of John’s church in charge. John was deter- 
mined that as soon as he could give the matter his personal 
attention he would establish a chain of at least twenty cash 
grocery stores ; even if, for the time being, he had to place 
in charge of them men who were not Servers. He felt con- 
fident, however, that it would not be long before many per- 
sons would be seeking to join their band. No solicitation 
whatever to join had been made thus far, only those volun- 
teering having been added. The band of workers often held 
socials, to which they invited their friends, and in this way, 
and through personal contact at other times, many were 
becoming acquainted with what they were doing. 

"When the full meaning of the Service organization is 
known,” John remarked to Ed, "many will be eager to join 
with us. Our city is full of men and women who yearn to 
serve their fellows, but who are so constantly on the de- 
fensive in the battle of life they find they can do no more 
than keep the wolf of want from their own doors. Let them 
learn that, by becoming identified with the Servers, they can 
have this economic pressure lifted from their lives — thus 
leaving them free to serve others— and they will be delighted 
to join with us.” 

"Yes,” agreed Ed, "and I imagine that many of the poor 
in our city will turn to our organization as a refuge from 
what you call this ‘economic pressure.’ They will find happy 
relief from the constant fear of hunger and privation.” 

"Yes,” responded John warmly, "and the subtraction of 


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fear from their lives will leave them more efficient units of 
society, which greater efficiency we will capitalize for the 
service of others. That's the great worth pf our organi- 
zation as an instrument for social betterment, we are pre- 
pared not only to help men and women but to lift them to a 
place where they in turn may help others.” 

About this time an entirely new business was added to 
their enterprises. Roger Martin, who had shown little faith 
in John's plan of service when the latter had gone to him 
while the scheme was still in the air, now in turn sought out 
his friend. 

“I have been hesitating to approach you, John,” explained 
Roger, apologetically, “though I long since changed my 
opinion as to the practicability of your plan. If there is 
any little place I might fit in I will now be delighted to 
join you.” 

“And we will be overjoyed to have you one of us, Roger. 
We have work for anyone from a hod-carrier to a capital- 
ist, and we are equally delighted to receive the one or the 
other. And we seek eventually to assign each member to 
that service which will permit the highest development and 
expression of his capacities.” 

“How can I serve best?” 

“Why not buy a drug store and put you in charge?” Roger 
was a pharmacist in one of the larger drug stores on Main 
Street. 

“I have faith in my own ability, John, if you have con- 
fidence in me. I’ve been saving for some time with the idea 
of buying a drug store.” 

“Bully, Roger; I know you too well not to have faith in 
you. What about a good location?” 

“A friend of mine recently investigated the business at 
Sixth and Main with the idea of buying it, and from what 
he says, and from my own observation, I think we would 
be fortunate in securing that location.” 

After John had placed the matter before his associates, 
and after the investigation of other sites, the business at 
Sixth and Main was purchased. 

Mike was absent from the meeting when the decision was 
reached, and the first intimation he had of its establishment 


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133 


was when he came to the city several days later to buy some 
medicine. 

“And what brings you in at this time of day, Mike?” 
asked Carl. 

“Sure and it’s hog medicine, Mr. Carl ; them blooded hogs 
are behind everything I do, and when I go to the crazy house 
you’ll not have to ask what sent me there.” 

“Well, don’t forget Service Drug Store,” cautioned Carl, 
laughing. 

“Sure now, and where might Service Drug Store be?” 

Mike learned where the drug store was and went around 
to inspect it; he then hurried to John’s office at the Journal, 
apparently in a great rage. 

“Sure, Mister John, and it’s a shame to sell such stuff and 
call it ice cream ! And it’s an outrage for us to buy such 
stuff when I have the men waiting for the cows to milk, and 
when we can give you the finest ice cream that can be made.” 

John laughed heartily at him. 

“How do you know their ice cream is no good, Mike? Did 
you crawi upon a stool and ask for a saucer?” 

Mike grinned broadly. 

“When Mr. Carl told me wt had a Service drug store I 
went around and nosed into everything. I asked for a taste 
of ice cream, and though it was about the first ice cream I 
ever ate, it did not taste good and I know it can’t be good.” 

“If I do not mistake the young fellow who gave you the 
taste, Mike, your cream was doped. But the cows you do 
need, and the cows you shall have. What number will 
satisfy you?” 

“Another barn, Mister John, and fifty cows.” 

“Jerseys?” 

“If you honestly can call Jerseys milch cows,” snorted 
Mike, “then I’ll take Jerseys.” 

“I see you want to double capacity, Mike, and I expect we 
had better wait until I can take a day off and go into the 
matter fully.” 

ii 

John and Ed were on Main Street watching the crowd 
again. 

“They’re passing by the thousands, Ed; and though all 


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are brothers in Christ, yet, ninety-nine out of each hundred 
are strangers to one another. If I should make so bold as 
to speak to the passing men nine out of ten would shy from 
me as though I were a confidence man. And if I dared to 
speak to the women, forty-nine out of fifty would turn aside 
in fright as though I were a panderer. Great God, have a 
few confidence men and a few panderers thrown such a fear 
into humanity as a whole that we shy from our brothers as 
though they were vultures? Alas, how far we have wan- 
dered away from the teachings of the Master who would 
have us believe that even the Samaritan is our neighbor and 
brother! Fear fills the hearts of the crowd! Oh, that love 
and courage might drive it out ! And that we might throw 
off the mask of convention and dare to know one another !” 

“Do you not believe that conventionality is necessary to 
the morality of the crowd?” 

“That’s the false philosophy of Satan, Ed ; it teaches fear 
of our brother instead of love of him as was taught by the 
Christ. The Master knew that men must trust men and 
love men before they could trust and love God. This old 
world will advance only as love and trust deepens between 
men; and such conventions as are barriers to the friendship 
and fellowship of men are but brakes on the wheels of 
progress. And I for one say, ‘throw off the brakes,’ and if 
this old world, after nineteen hundred years of Christian 
teaching, has not gained enough of goodness to enable it to 
travel faster up the heights with the brakes of convention 
off, then I say let it dash to the bottom and go to smash and 
be through with it. 

“But listen, Ed, there would be no dashing to the bottom ; 
but, on the contrary, faster progress upward. This world 
will not have reached the crowning point in its climb up the 
heights of development until all men in it are truly brothers ; 
and every step in the direction of neighborliness and of 
brotherliness will mean a hastening of that day. But do 
not mistake me, old man ; I do not mean to discard any 
conventions that would let down the bars to viciousness. I 
still believe that gentle-men and gentle-women are the nob- 
lest works of God. I still believe that the delicate bloom of 
a woman’s modesty is her dearest birth-right. But can’t 


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135 


we all be neighbors and friends and brothers and still be 
gentle and modest? 

“Think of the thousands of hearts in this passing crowd 
that are hungering and thirsting for friendship, for fellow- 
ship ! Lonely amid the crowd! And the strangers within 
our gates? What have become of the days when stranger 
was ‘a sacred name’ and dwellings were set aside for their 
use and comfort? Such a wholesome attitude is dead in 
the past, and waiting the day of social resurrection ! 

“But there are places in the city, Ed. where the stranger 
can find fellowship — of a kind. He cah find it in the saloons 
and in the public dance halls and in the district where the 
lights are strong and garish red. He can find comradeship 
there ; and laughter and song, even though in tones of hollow 
mockery ! And many a starving heart is driven there seek- 
ing fellowship and forgetfulness ! 

“The strangers are not the only ones with hearts starving 
for fellowship. You see the young fellow in the gray suit, 
just passing? That is Harry Townes; he’s just twenty, but 
he supports his invalid mother and a twelve-year-old sister. 
That is a great privilege in life, to support a mother and a 
sister ; but that is not the whole of life. Harry’s mother and 
sister would be far happier if Harry could have more in his 
life. The family moved here two years ago in order that 
Harry could more easily find a position. Harry has man- 
aged to strike a balance each month, with the exception of a 
small doctor’s bill unpaid. But he can count his friends — 
friends? rather his close acquaintances— on his fingers. He 
does not belong to the ‘Y’ because of the fee — a very small 
fee, I grant you, considering the incomparable privileges 
offered ; but still large enough to shut Harry out. For the 
same reason, he does not belong to the clubs ; nor does he 
call on young ladies, because he cannot afford the requisite 
candy and flowers and theatre tickets. He does attend a 
‘young men’s’ Sunday School class ; but it is one of the many 
Sunday School classes with so little of ‘pep’ in it as not to 
count in the order of really existent things. Harry is as 
truly a ‘shut in’ as his invalid mother, and his case is more 
tragic. And there are lots of Harrys in this city, Ed, — and 
Marthas, too. I know, for I have studied the problems of 


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the passing crowd. I have thought over them, dreamed 
over them, worried over them ; for I consider their problems 
my own.” 

“But what can we do, John, to feed what you term their 
‘starving hearts’ with fellowship ?” # 

“I have a plan, Ed, which I am confident will result in 
brightening the lives of thousands of lonely folks in this 
city. I am only waiting to learn the fate of our finances, 
before placing my scheme before our comrades. It involves 
a costly Temple of Fellowship : something on the order of a 
combined Y. M. C.’A. and Y. W. C. A., with the added- 
feature that it will include the whole family, from the baby 
to the grandmother. The foolish craze of the day is for 
the separation of the sexes ; it is separation run wild, and I 
cannot tolerate it. God mixed the sexes in the family, surely 
the noblest institution on earth. And yet, our teachers and 
officials are clamoring for their separation in the schools; 
they are too often separating them in the colleges ; they are 
separating them in the organized Sunday School classes, and 
in other Christian organizations, and also in the clubs. Al- 
ready they are parted in the broad life of business and poli- 
tics by barriers of convention. The only places where they 
are not separated are the ballrooms and the dance halls, and 
at the card parties and in the vice districts. 

“I propose a Temple of Fellowship over the entrance to 
which shall appear the legend, ‘You enter here as a Stranger 
but once.’ It shall be a Temple where the babies can be 
brought to enjoy the fellowship of babyhood; where children 
may enjoy the fellowship of childhood; and where the young 
men and the young women and the old men and the old 
women can enjoy the fellowship of manhood and of woman- 
hood — each after his highest desires.” 

“Do you mean that the moment one entered the doorway 
one would become automatically introduced to everyone 
else?” 

“Precisely that, Ed. Why not? Why not direct acquain- 
tance instead of prolonged isolation? Take the city as a 
whole : there’s hardly a person in it who has not a friend 
who has a friend; and that friend has a friend who has a 
friend ; and so on in doubles and many multiples until the 


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137 


whole city is indirectly acquainted. And yet, after we have 
been introduced to the same person five times over at the 
club, or at church, or on the street, when we meet him face 
to face the sixth time, we have to scratch our heads to be 
sure we have been introduced to him before we dare even 
to bow. What folly! Is there more danger in direct than 
in indirect acquaintance? Danger to what? To barriers 
that separate the classes? And what are these formidable 
barriers? Wealth, position, social standing? — any of which 
a dollar and a day can make or break? Then I say, let 
love of neighbor and of brother-man, as brother-man, batter 
the barriers down !” 

“But John, will the people respect the Temple and behave 
themselves in it?” 

“Satan’s fear again, Ed. They will respect it out of sheet 
admiration for its beauty and magnificence; and they will 
behave themselves in it because they will be expected to 
behave themselves. They will respond to the spirit of it. 
People behave as they are expected to behave.” 

“I do not know, John, but my faith in you is strong.” 

“And once again I must say, Ed, that my faith is strong in 
my brother-men and their inherent sense of law and order.” 

John’s desire to realize his dream of a Temple of Fellow- 
ship was so strong that he was tempted forthwith to place 
his plans before his associates, and to go ahead with the 
construction of the building on the faith of the expected 
favorable testimony of the two critical witnesses in the oil 
land suit. But just at this time, he received a very alarming 
letter from the minister who was keeping him advised of 
the attitude of the aged couple who were such important 
factors in the outcome of the case. 

“A representative of the other side was here on two dif- 
ferent occasions recently, I have just discovered,” wrote the 
friendly minister, “and the old man is now crabbedly dis- 
courteous to me, while the old woman is hardly less un- 
friendly. I feel very uneasy for your interests, and would 
suggest that you give the matter your immediate attention.” 

Apprehensive of a further disappearance, John hurriedly 
slipped away to the little town to learn what a personal 
investigation would disclose. 


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CHAPTER XVI 
mary's work 

i 

“Look ahead, John, who's coming!” 

“I saw her a block away, Ed,” replied John, with a catch 
in his voice. 

Mary was hurrying along the sidewalk toward them, 
glancing in the shop windows as she came. She did not 
see the men until she was almost on them ; and then, stop- 
ping with a little start of surprise, and nodding her head 
as they tipped their hats, she darted into the doorway of a 
book store. 

“Not so easy, young lady,” growled Ed, as he left his 
friend and hastened after her. 

A few hours later he met John again. 

“She has gone wild on uplift work, old man. When she 
darted into Connor’s this morning it was to inquire about 
some books on city playgrounds which she had ordered.” 

“Is she merely seeking another diversion, Ed, or has she 
really awakened a passion for the work?’* 

“It’s pure zeal for the work, John, unless I’m much 
mistaken.” 

“Did she tell you anything of what she is doing?” 

“Oh, yes, she’s full of talk concerning her work ; and she 
said, with a sigh, that she wished she was forty persons in 
one. I told her that that was the secret of our success, we 
are forty people in one, — and our membership is not closed !” 

“Good, Ed, that certainly is the secret of our success. I 
expect she will wish more than once she was forty persons 
in one. I saw her out at Granny Diggs’ one day and won- 
dered what she could possibly be doing there.” 

“She says she expects to concentrate all of her energies 
on the Mill Street district in an endeavor to reclaim it from 
its filth and squalor. She owns an interest in a number of 
tenement houses in that section.” 

“I wonder what Donald Ashton thinks about his daugh- 
ter’s new vagaries,” reflected John, with a smile. 

“She says her father is very much interested in her plans 


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139 


for the improvement of her. tenement property ; and that he 
has promised if she is successful with the management of 
her own property, he will give her the management of his 
tenement property.” 

“Let us pray, then, that she will be successful,” said John, 
“for I know of some property of Donald Ashton’s that is 
a rebuke not only to the morals, but to all the other sensi- 
bilities of civilized man. I imagine if she comes across the 
property I have in mind, she will not wait for her father’s 
consent to improve it.” 

Two days after her encounter with John on the street, 
Mary had another opportunity of recognizing the introduc- 
tion she had received at Granny Diggs’. While she was 
standing in the church entrance on Sunday morning, John 
came slowly up the steps; and though he looked her fully 
in the eyes, she turned away quickly and hurried on into 
the choir room. And later, when she saw him sitting in the 
pew looking toward her, though she did not avoid his eyes, 
neither did she send him the slightest flash of recognition. 
Even from where he sat, he could see that an alert restless- 
ness permeated her whole being ; and that a new fire burned 
in the depths of her brown eyes. 

“Ah, Lady Mary,” he mused to himself, “can it be that 
you have already joined the ranks of the restless workers! 
Surely you wear the badge ‘Set Aside’ so plainly that a 
comrade cannot be mistaken ! God grant that it may be so ! 
God grant that you have joined the ranks of the few whose 
hearts are set to throb through all time with infinite love, 
infinite mercy, and infinite pity !” 

Mary Ashton was the favorite soloist of the choir, and 
on this Sunday all who listened as she sang must have felt 
the new thrill, the poignant pathos, in her song. With a 
deeper heave than usual of her beautiful, half-exposed 
breast, and a quicker lift, almost a toss, of her lovely head 
displaying the delicate whiteness of her throat, she sent her 
liquid notes high into the balconies of the big auditorium. 

“If the angels only would teach her to smile!” thought 
John, “she would be perfect! If only she had the tender 
smile which adds the love-touch to song !” 

Life, passion, thrill, fire, she interpreted with her wonder- 


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ful voice, but the tender smile of mother-love, the tender 
smile of trust, which should light the lifted face when the 
song is of the Messiah — that Mary did not have. 

ii 

“John, you preach to us that if we desire to aid others 
to find health and happiness, we first must be strong and 
joyous ourselves. And yet, I do not believe you would 
know true happiness if you met it at the cross-roads. And 
as for health, you’re determined to ruin yours through over- 
work. What’s the drift, old man?” 

“You’re wrong, all wrong, Ed. I know true happiness 
when I see ‘her,’ but she is an inaccessible star in a firma- 
ment far away; and as for my health I’m working hard on 
purpose to keep that. If I didn’t work hard I’d soon worry 
sick over the hopeless happiness part.” 

“But the hours are too long, John ; they extend too far 
into the night. The break is bound to come, sooner or later. 
Can’t you throw some of the Journal work onto other 
shoulders?” 

“I’m seeking relief from the work now, Ed. You know 
I’ve said all along that I was not cut out for a newspaper 
man. I realize that I have more of a business than a literary 
instinct. But I shall not relinquish the work until I have 
located the right man to take charge of the paper. That 
man must be an editor with a passion for Service journal- 
ism. When I have found this rare individual I shall sur- 
render the paper, and then I’ll show you folks something 
about sure enough business organization.” 

“What d’ye mean, John?” 

“I mean, Ed, that the Servers have the tremendous oppor- 
tunity, and the duty, of setting the standard not only of 
business efficiency, but of business ethics, for others to 
follow. We must demonstrate that business can be con- 
ducted along a plane of higher ethics.” 

“Can we do it?” 

“That we can, Ed. I still dare to dream, old man, and, 
hidden away in my dream cellar. I have a few big business 
schemes waiting to be brought to light and to use. We shall 


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141 


need to do things on a big scale when Service Temple has 
become a fact and we have sent out our call and challenge 
for Service volunteers.” 

“How soon do you hope to find such an editor?” 

“I am trying to decide between two men now, Ed.” 

“Have you been seeking a man with the literary and 
business instinct combined?” 

“I am not worrying about the business instinct. A well- 
balanced editor is as rare as a well-balanced preacher; and 
1 have preferred to look for a man preponderating to the 
literary. With the aid of a present employe I will continue 
to supply most of the business acumen. We will furnish 
the subscribers for the editor to hold.” 

“I thought the worth of a paper alone is responsible for 
the number of its subscribers.” 

“Not on your life, Ed. If the archangels from heaven 
should come down to ‘edit a Book of Life they would have 
to organize a staff of cherubims and seraphims to hustle for 
the subscribers and advertisers. We must go out for what 
we want these days.” 

“How many subscribers do you hope for, John?” 

“Eventually, we want to send the Journal into every 
home in the city. We cannot expect to influence the people 
unless we reach them. But we cannot afford low-priced 
subscriptions just yet and consequently we must be content 
with reaching only a part of the people.” 

“You mentioned a subscription campaign the other day; 
when do you start it?” 

“In about a week. We shall conduct a whirlwind cam- 
paign for a month in an endeavor to secure two thousand 
new subscribers. We'll cut our rate in half to two thou- 
sand people.” 

“But you admonished us, I thought, that the Service en- 
terprises are not to indulge in cut-throat business. Would 
such a cut be legitimate?” 

“I believe so, Ed. There’s hardly a newspaper in the 
country which does not offer either cut-rates, clubbing rates, 
or give away premiums of some kind. We’ll offer the best 
appeal I know of : a sure enough cut-rate.” 


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The Evening Journal carried out the whirlwind campaign 
as planned ; and was able to arouse such interest and enthu- 
siasm as easily resulted in the two thousand subscribers 
before the month was out. 


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143 


CHAPTER XVII 

THE OIL LAND SUIT 
I 

The day for the trial of the suit involving the oil land 
found the Servers in an intensely expectant mood, for they 
were not without grave apprehension as to the outcome. 
Those who were able to leave their work gathered in the 
court room to watch the proceedings. Mike came in with 
an Irish widow he had captured somewhere in the city, and 
the two took seats in the very front row, where Mike could, 
as he expressed it: “Watch Mr. John show what a foine 
lawyer he would have been/’ Ed took a seat just inside the 
rail where, a few minutes later, he was forced to return a 
cool nod from Donald Ashton when the latter passed to take 
his seat by the side of a long table with his lawyers. 

John and Harrison Nelms, sitting on the opposite side 
of the table, did not receive the slightest recognition from 
the banker. Harrison sat close to John where he could 
quickly give him the benefit of the information he had gained 
while securing the evidence. On the other side of John 
were the two lawyers associated with him, Lawton & Harris, 
and also the detective who had worked with Harrison in 
gathering the evidence. 

John was acting as leading counsel for the defense; 
though not without serious misgiving and serious mistrust 
of himself. His experience in the active trial of cases had 
been of too limited range and continuity to afford him the 
steady confidence he felt he should have. Especially did he 
feel the need of the cool control d f his faculties in the con- 
duct of the case in hand— the outcome of which was of such 
tremendous importance not only to himself and his com- 
rades, but to the unnamed and unknown numbers of un- 
fortunate and unguided ones who, sooner or later, would be 
reached by the beneficent influences of the Service organ- 
ization. 

As the actual opening of the case drew nearer, John 
began to feel more than ever that the responsibility which 
had been placed upon him was greater than his ability to 
discharge. His one solace was that he had not thrust him- 


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self forward in the case, and if he failed it would be an 
honest failure untainted by any vanity of vaulting leader- 
ship. His comrades had insisted on his taking full control 
of the case, feeling the utmost confidence in him. Their 
trust was so unstinted they had refused to discuss putting 
the case in the hands of other lawyers no matter what their 
reputation. They chose doggedly to have faith in the 
‘humanity’ of leadership, rather than in its ‘intellectuality.’ 

As the various participants in the proceedings rapidly 
gathered in the court room John felt the nervous distrust of 
himself growing. He saw the old couple, the two important 
and uncertain witnesses in the case, enter the door and take 
their seats in the rear of the room. 

“They hold in the hollow of their hands, as it were, the 
destiny of the Service organization !” he whispered to Har- 
rison. uneasily. 

And the thought that this could be so caused him a fretful 
irritation. He tried to catch the eyes of the old folks, but 
neither would meet his glance. His irritation increased as 
he saw with what satisfaction Donald Ashton became aware 
of their presence. And when the banker rose from his seat 
and went around the rail to greet the two witnesses, John 
felt he could contain himself no longer. He rose quickly 
and, touching Harrison Nelms nervously on the arm, led 
the way to a small ante-room. 

“We’re lost, man,” he cried to his friend, “absolutely lost 
unless we can break down the testimony of that old couple ; 
and that we’ll never do to the satisfaction of any jury picked 
in this court !” 

“But what can we do, John,” cried Harrison, “we’ve 
combed the state for every scintilla of existing evidence !” 

“What can we do, Harrison,” burst out the other 
bitterly, “we can stand helplessly by and watch ‘Truth 
crushed to the earth’ by Donald Ashton’s crowd — and who 
dares to say it ‘will rise again’!” 

“We could afford to lose half of the land,” groaned Har- 
rison,, “if we knew the other half would be safe.” 

“They’ll have it all,” cried John ; and passing from fretted 


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145 


nervousness to unreasoning wrath, he paced the narrow 
room, raging as his friend had never heard him. 

“We’ll fight them, Harrison,” he cried, “we’ll fight them 
until this city will not hold them. Donald Ashton and his 
crooked crowd can’t trample truth and justice and right- 
eousness under foot in this city and get away with it in- 
definitely ! If those two old gray-haired hypocrites attempt 
to tell their lies on the witness stand, I’ll scourge the clothes 
off their backs, and make them confess the truth before 
God and man ! I’ll lift the lies out of their hearts, so that 
the blackest jury will not dare accept their perjured tales!” 

“But you must calm yourself, John,” urged his friend 
with concern; “you won’t last a minute in court if you 
don’t control your temper!” 

“I’ll control it,” he exclaimed passionately; “but we’ll lay 
the scorpion’s lash on somebody’s back today !” 

The door of the little room was opened from the other 
side, and through the aperture, the two men heard the 
words of the Judge: 

“What says the defendant?” 

“The defendant is ready, your honor!” cried John, al- 
most defiantly, as he stepped back into the court. 

The immediate responsibility of picking the jurors he en- 
trusted to the older lawyers who were assisting him, two 
experienced practicioners who often had wrestled with the 
same problem in that room. 

The machinery was now in motion. And John realized 
how helpless he was to stop, or change, or even control its 
movement ! He bitterly felt this as he sat tensely following 
the steady proceedings: the cool interrogations of the 
lawyers ; the evasive, or crafty, or clean-cut answers of the 
veniremen; and the short, decisive orders of the* Judge. 
Yes, the machinery was in motion: not the machinery of 
Justice! but a maladjustment of machinery that he felt cer- 
tain was relentlessly set to grind out Injustice that day! 

The three powerful lawyers sitting complacently by the 
banker’s side were coolly and confidently carrying out their 
10 


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wealthy client’s will; and the judge on the bench (a strict 
party man) was obediently conscious of the presence and 
power of the capitalist; the jury was being remorselessly 
picked, Lawton & Harris to the contrary notwithstanding. 
And the witnesses? John turned instinctively toward the 
wrinkled faces of the aged couple. The old man’s shifty 
eyes darted him a glance of defiance ; the old woman’s eyes 
dropped to her folded hands! His heart sank with despair; 
his wrath had long before subsided with the thought of its 
utter impotence, and he was now surcharged with a bitter 
feeling of the helplessness of his position, and tortured with 
the irony of the thought that two perjured souls were to 
block the pathway of those whose very passion was the 
salvation of souls ! 

He felt an utter helplessness as to the outcome, but he 
rose to go where he might strive to gather his shaken 
faculties for the further part he was to play in the tragedy 
of the day ! He turned to go to the little ante-room, and as 
he did so, he faced Mary Ashton who was just coming 
through the door of the court room, seeking her father ! 
The reaction on him was instantaneous and complete; and 
he hurried into the little room with every fibre tingling ! The 
day was not lost ! He exulted at the thought ! If she could 
re-act on him, he would re-act on others ! If she could 
conquer his attitude by the mere power of her presence, he 
would conquer others. Not by the power of might, but by 
the power of his personality ! He thanked God for the 
knowledge that he now would not fail the faith his friends 
had placed in him ! 

Ed came into the little room, to be greeted with a cry 
of triumph. 

“Old man,” cried John, “we have them whipped to a 
standstill ; all we have to do is to go through the formality !” 

This bold confidence caused Ed to gasp for breath. 

“And to think, John,” he cried, “you’ve had me scared 
to death!” 


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147 


“So have I been scared,” laughed John, “but just now 
Mary came bringing me a message of victory !” 

“Look here, old man,” growled Ed, anxiously, “don’t 
you go daffy just when they’re about to steal all we’ve got !” 

“I was near daffy, Ed,” he said, with a laugh, and added 
seriously, “I was shot to a frazzling nothing, and was not in 
shape to have faced a billy-goat, must less the crowd that 
are grinding their game in there. But, jemini, Ed, I’m 
ready for the scrap now !” 

Ed caught the thrill of his friend’s confidence, and 
grasped his hand. “You’re right, John,” he cried, “the 
victory will surely be ours !” 

“And when we win this fight, Ed, it’ll mean the end 
of the opposition of Donald Ashton. Donald Ashton is 
not a scrapper ; he’s not a politician ; he’s a capitalist,' and 
the kind of capitalist that delights in placing his money 
only where it will multiply, and not where it will be wasted 
in conflict. Roland Ashton is a politician and a fighter, 
and we will continue to have his undying hatred ; but when 
Donald Ashton loses his case, and contemplates our wealth, 
he’ll be offering us his money in any amounts at the current 
rates of usury!” 

Harrison Nelms came in to announce that the jury was 
in the box and the court ready to proceed. 

“Let the witnesses be sworn,” ordered the Judge. 

John fixed his eyes on the old couple as they came for- 
ward with the other witnesses and raised their right hands 
to take the oath. 

“Do each of you solemnly swear that in the evidence you 
give you will testify the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth, so help you God !” 

The old couple slightly bowed their gray heads and mur- 
mured with their lips, while their wrinkled right hands 
trembled. 

“Let the sheriff take charge of the witnesses,” ordered 
the Judge. 

While the several witnesses were being led out of the 


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room, the plaintiff’s attorneys began the reading of their 
pleadings, and followed with the introduction of their 
documentary evidence. A voluminous abstract was offered 
showing a complete chain of title to the land from the 
sovereignty of the soil on down to Donald Ashton. As the 
divergence between the chains of title of plaintiff and de- 
fendant began with the will of Austin Thomas’ mother, the 
burden of proof was on the plaintiff to prove that Austin 
Thomas was born subsequent to the making of his mother’s 
will ; which would make the will inoperative to deprive him 
of his share of her estate. 

“Call Austin Thomas,” cried the clerk. 

Austin Thomas took the stand and testified to facts which 
tended to establish his relationship and the date of his birth. 
As he could not, of course, testify to the actual fact of the 
date of his own birth, other witnesses were called by his 
attorneys to testify to this critical fact. None of the wit- 
nesses could fix the date absolutely, but their testimony 
tended to fix the date of the young man’s birth as being in 
July 1883 — one year after the making of his mother’s will. 
John cross-examined these witnesses vigorously but could 
not shake their testimony — and plaintiff still had two wit- 
nesses who would fix the date beyond controversy ! 

“Call Matthew Nixon !” 

The gray haired old man, who had been so much in 
John’s thoughts of late, came into the room and threaded 
his way toward the witness stand. As he sat down in the 
witness chair, he rested one shaking hand on the rail in 
front of the jury box. Plaintiff’s attorneys quickly brushed 
through the preliminaries of the examination, and reached 
the question that invited the attention of all. 

“You have testified. Mr. Nixon, that Austin Thomas was 
born in your home. Now tell the jury the year and day 
of his birth.” 

John had been unable to hold the shifting glances of the 
old man, and he, therefore, was not surprised at his answer. 

“Austin Thomas was born in July of the year 1883.” 


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149 


Other questions were asked to show familiarity of the 
witness with the date, and to display the quality of his 
memory. He was then turned over to the defense for cross- 
examination. 

John knew that the eyes and the thoughts and the faith 
of his comrades were all turned toward him, and he realized 
his responsibility; but he set about his task quietly and 
confidently. 

“You have an excellent memory for one of your age, Mr. 
Nixon,” he began with a friendly appeal to the old man’s 
vanity. 

“Well, I recollect a good many things,” returned the old 
fellow, shifting one leg in composure with the friendly 
start. 

“You must be well nigh seventy-five, are you not, Mr. 
Nixon?” suggested John. 

“I am seventy-three years old, sir.” 

“Seventy-three years old — let’s see, then you were born 
in — ?” he left it to the old man to supply the date; but the 
aged witness evidently could not fix his thoughts satisfac- 
torily, for he did not reply. 

“In what year were you born, Mr. Nixon?” 

“I was born in the forties, sir!” 

“How long have you been married, Mr. Nixon?” 

“Fifty-one years, sir !” 

“You were married then in the year 1869?” 

: ‘Yes, sir!” 

“In what year was your wife born, Mr. Nixon?” 

“Well, I don’t iust remember when the old woman was 
born.” 

“Have you any children?” 

“No, sir.” 

“Did you not lose a child?” 

“We lost a boy.” 

“How old was your boy when he died, Mr. Nixon?” 

“Seven years old, sir.” 

“Then he was born in the year — ?” 


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“He was born in the year 1875.” 

“Mr. Nixon, in what year was Austin Thomas born?” 
John asked quite suddenly. 

“He was born in July of 1883, sir!” 

“How do you fix the date, Mr. Nixon?” 

“I remember the date well, sir !” 

“Austin Thomas was born in the same month and year 
that your son died, was he not, Mr. Nixon?” 

The crafty old fellow saw the significance of the question ; 
but was confused as to which horn of the dilemna to take. 

“I do not remember, sir !” 

“In what year did your son die, Mr. Nixon?” 

“I do not remember, sir !” 

“If he was born in the year 1875 and was seven years 
old when he died, that would make the year of his death 
1882, would it not, Mr. Nixon?” 

“You can figger it for yourself, sir!” 

“Is it not a fact, Mr. Nixon, that Austin Thomas was 
born in your home on the same day that your son died?” 

“I do not remember; I only know that Austin Thomas 
was born in July of the year 1883 !” he repeated defiantly. 

“That will do, Mr. Nixon.” 

Plaintiff’s attorney dared not question the old man again, 
and as John knew it would be useless to harass him further, 
he was excused from the stand. 

It had been a dog-fall; all who knew the jury felt this; 
and John and his comrades realized their case was desperate 
unless better results could be gotten with the old woman. 

“Call Martha Nixon !” 

John whispered to Harrison Nelms, and the latter rose 
and went into the audience; a moment later the friendly 
minister who had helped them came and took a seat by 
John’s side, facing the old woman who was just seating 
herself in the witness chair. 

Martha Nixon’s eyes were not shifty as were her hus- 
band’s but she kept them glued on her lap and would not 
meet the looks of John and the minister. Donald Ashton’s 


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151 


lawyer succeeded, by persuasive questions, in leading up to 
and eliciting from her the answer he desired. 

“Austin Thomas was born in July of the year 1883,” 
she answered in a low voice. 

“You may take the witness/' the lawyer said to John in 
a tone of triumph, and with a confident look at the jury. 

John got up easily from his seat and stood in front of 
the old woman, with one hand resting lightly on the shoulder 
of the minister who was sitting near. He endeavored with 
his preliminary questions to get on the friendliest footing 
possible with the aged witness; and then he gradually led 
up to the crucial point of the examination. As he neared 
this point, the interest of all who could hear the questions 
and answers became intense. 

“Aunt Martha,” he was saying, kindly, “you and uncle 
Matthew haven’t any children living, have you?” 

“No, sir, not any,” the old woman replied, with just a 
little catch in her voice. 

“And you have just one on the other shore waiting for 
you to come over, have you not, Aunt Martha?” he asked 
gently. 

“Yes, sir, just one,” she answered in a very low voice. 

“How old was your boy when he died, Aunt Martha?” 

“He was just seven years old, sir,” she said, wiping her 
eyes. 

“May 5th is his birthday, is it not?” 

“Yes, he was born on May 5th, 1875.” 

“And he died on July 10, 1882, did he not?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“He was your joy and pride, was he not, Aunt Martha? ’ 

“That he was, sir!” 

“And on the day that your boy died, Aunt Martha, 
Austin Thomas’ mother gave birth to a son in your home, 
did she not?” asked Tohn very kindly. 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Then Austin Thomas was born on July 10, 1882, and 
you were mistaken, Aunt Martha, were you not, when you 


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said he was born in July 1883 ?” asked John very kindly 
and persuasively. 

“Yes, sir,” she said, “Austin Thomas was born in our 
home on the day our little boy died.” 

John selected a photograph, from among his papers and 
handed it to the witness. 

“That is a picture of your little boy’s tombstone, is it 
not, Aunt Martha?” 

“Yes, sir,” the witness replied very feebly. 

“It shows the date of your little boy’s death as being 
July 10, 1882, and you could not possibly be mistaken that 
that was the date on which Austin Thomas was born, could 
you ?” 

“No, sir, I could not possibly be mistaken,” she said 
firmly. 

“That will do, Aunt Martha; thank you.” 

John carefully fought the case on to a finish, because of 
the kind of jury in the box; but he knew the victory was 
won when Aunt Martha had testified to the truth. 

The verdict was presently brought in: “We, the jury, 
find for the defendant.” 

John’s comrades could hardly restrain themselves for joy. 
They celebrated that night in true victor style with a big 
supper, and many felicitious speeches and “dry” toasts. John 
took advantage of the occasion to place before them his 
plans for a Service Temple of Fellowship. They embraced 
his idea with enthusiasm, and authorized him to go ahead 
immediately with his plans. 


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153 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

SERVICE TEMPLE OF FELLOWSHIP. 

I. 

The months rolled around, and Service Temple of Fel- 
lowship had crystalized into a glowing reality. It had been 
formally thrown open to the public. It was a magnificent 
structure, two and a half stories above ground, and half a 
story underground, covering more than a quarter of a 
block. 

John and Ed were one day seated in easy chairs in the 
immense rotunda of the Temple, discussing the people who 
were taking advantage of its fellowship. Seated all around 
them were folks in groups of two’s and three’s talking to 
one another. Through a spacious opening into a large 
room in the right hand corner of the building, they could 
see other groups sitting at tables playing such games as 
chess and checkers. To the left were others reading papers 
and magazines. In front of them, and in the back part of 
the rotunda, other people were seated at a beautiful marble 
counter, having refreshments served. 

“You see the two old people walking toward us, Ed? 
They’re from Kentucky. When they met here the other 
day, it was the first time they had seen each other since 
they were children together at school. They are slightly 
related, and have hundreds of other distant relatives in 
Kentucky. The old couple is a nucleus ; and after awhile, 
you will see other old folks gather around them ; and the 
Kentucky of the olden days will come to life again.” 

“The older people have been quicker to take advantage 
of the Temple than have the younger ones, John. Why is 
it so?” 

“They were quicker to grasp the meaning of it from the 
write-ups in the Journal, Ed. But the younger folks, and 
the middle-aged ones, will soon come in larger numbers. We 


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crave fellowship in the morning and in the noontime of 
life as well as in its afterglow.” 

“The younger folks seem more timid, too, in approach- 
ing one another.” 

“I am glad of that, Ed ; it reveals their intuition of the 
true meaning of the Temple, and their wholesome respect 
for it. The crisis has passed, to my mind; and in my judg- 
ment the future of the Temple is secure.” 

“A success from the jump, John; without the slightest 
doubt. But, unfortunately, this Temple will not care for 
all the people in the city; what about those it does not 
reach ?” 

“When this one is known and appreciated for its true 
worth we ought to be in shape to build another on the 
North Side.” 

“Isn’t that your young friend Harry Townes coming in?” 

“No, that’s not Harry, though it does resemble him. But 
I have seen Harry here a number of times at night. He 
expressed to me his grateful appreciation for the privileges 
of the Temple, saying he had made many new friends. And 
Mrs. Matnor tells me that scores of others, young and old, 
have expressed their gratitude for what the Temple has 
grown to mean to them.” 

“Mrs. Matnor is the only one they really know as a 
Server ; don’t you think the rest of us ought to wear some- 
thing to distinguish us while we are here?” 

“I think not, Ed; let’s just mix among them as we ar T e 
and they’ll feel a greater freedom. If any should fail to 
comport themselves as they ought we can quietly speak to 
them, which will be more effective than if we were uni- 
formed watchmen.” 

“Perhaps you’re right, John.” 

“The young woman who has just come in seems rapt in 
the splendor of what she sees,” observed John, indicating 
a girl who was standing gazing at the magnificence of the 
Temple. 


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155 


“Good night !”■ — and with this exclamation Ed rose and 
hurried over to the young woman. 

“My name is Phillips, Ed Phillips,” he said unceremoni- 
ously. 

The young woman was completely taken aback by Ed’s 
impetuous introduction of himself; nevertheless, she 
answered him easily. 

“My name is Miss Ayres, and I came to see this beauti- 
ful building. Do you know who is in charge?” 

“We all are,” laughed Ed. 

“Are you one of the Servers?” 

“Yes, I have the proud distinction of being one of the 
Servers.” 

“You certainly have a magnificent building,” and she 
swept her eyes around her as she added, “I must insist on 
Mary’s coming to see it at once.” 

“And who might Mary be?” queried Ed. 

“Pardon me, I should have said Miss Ashton. She and 
I are great friends, and we’re greatly interested in uplift 
work.” 

“Miss Ashton and I, too, are very good friends,” cried 
Ed, “suppose we phone and see if she will not come now to 
see the building, and I will conduct you all through it.” 

“That’s fine; we certainly will. Where can we find a 
phone?” 

He led the way to the booth ; and when Miss Ayres 
finally located Mary she induced her to say she would come 
immediately to the Temple. The young woman and Ed 
sat by a window waiting and watching to greet their friend 
at the entrance. 

“My, what a palace you have !” exclaimed Mary, approv- 
ingly, as she entered the great doors. 

“Yes, and royal good folks inhabit this palace, too,” 
boasted Ed. 

“Mr. Phillips you promised to show us all through it; 
let us start from this very first room,” and Miss Ayres 


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led the way over toward the reading room — and toward 
where John was just rising from his seat. 

Ed and Mary both saw John at the same time. Ed 
glanced at Mary quickly, and a sudden purpose seized him. 

“Say, — ” but he got no further, for Mary intuitively 
divined his purpose, and fled after her friend. 

As Ed passed John, they smiled at each other; and John 
passed on out of the building. 

Mary, looking out of the window, saw him entering his 
car, and she felt a strange clutch at her heart. She had 
fled from him instinctively — without volition — and she 
wondered why; for deep down in her heart she felt a 
strange drawing toward him. When coming to the Temple, 
she had felt a hope, unacknowledged, that he would be 
there. Often of late, though she would not have admitted 
it, she had gone out of her way, hoping to see him ! And 
on a number of occasions, she had sat in Granny Diggs' 
room with a guilty half-hope that “Mister John” — always 
the main topic of Granny’s conversation — would again rap 
on the door. 

John, on the contrary' was now seeking to avoid Mary. 
He, too, through the months, had many times gone out of 
his way in the half-hope of seeing her. So often had he 
done this, that now, in his hopelessness, he was endeavoring 
to discipline himself. And he was carrying this discipline 
even to the extent of foregoing church attendance. 

II. 

Ed was conducting the two young ladies through the 
Temple; having shown them the reading room, he was now 
exhibiting the attractions of the game room, where many 
men and women of all ages were happily engaged at tables. 

“Aren’t you afraid that with such an incentive to come . 
here, the young folks will acquire the habit of idleness?”' 
asked Mary. 

“We will soon know those who come habitually, and 
after ascertaining their motive, we will be able to help them 




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157 


with friendly interest. Mrs. Matnor and her assistants will 
be on watchful guard to see that the Temple proves a help, 
and in no wise a hindrance, to peopled 

“Is there a special caretaker with regular assistants ?” in- 
quired Mary. 

“Mrs. Matnor and one or two others give their entire time 
in service at the Temple ; and a number of us give our time 
at irregular hours. The swimming pools, for instance, are 
open only at certain hours, and the Servers who come to 
take charge of them at those hours enjoy it as a diversion 
from their regular work.” 

“I see that you do not believe in the separation of the 
sexes,” she remarked, with a smile. 

“John says that he does not believe in ‘separation run 
wild’,” replied Ed ; “he says that it may be necessary in 
the darkness of heathen lands, but it is not advisable in the 
new light of Christian nations. Christianity is fast giving 
to woman her proper equality and freedom.” 

He now led the way to the refreshment stand in the rear 
of the rotunda. 

“Have you ever eaten Service Ice Cream?” he asked, 
while insisting on their taking seats at the counter. 

“I have,” declared Mary. “The first time was out at 
the Children's Home. Mike — that’s what we all call him,” 
she said, laughing, “is a good friend of the children, and 
he said if their doctor was not one who believed in plenty 
of ice cream, to fire him and get a doctor who does believe 
in ice cream.” 

“I have eaten Service cream at Service Drug Store,” put 
in Miss Ayres, “I always patronize the Service stores be- 
cause I know the good the Servers are doing. And I saw 
Mary in your drug store the other day.” 

Mary could not restrain the tendency to blush. She had 
been in Service Drug Store a number of times recently — 
often on a mere pretext. 

“Yes, I, too, patronize the Service stores,” she confessed, 


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“though I have been only in the drug store. I have promised 
Mike, however, to visit him at the dairy real soon.” 

“Do you serve regular meals here?” asked Miss Ayres, 
“I see toast being served, and pie.” 

“Oh, no,” replied Ed, “only such things as will relieve a 
touch of hunger. The greatest sale is of the soda fountain 
drinks; and the small income derived therefrom helps to 
defray the expenses of the Temple.” 

“The expenses must be heavy,” hazarded Mary. 

“They are not over-burdensome,” stated Ed. “The swim- 
ming pools, bowling alleys, billiard tables, and the skating 
rink are self-supporting, and even yield a small profit 
though the fees charged are at a minimum. Of course, no 
charge is made for the privileges of the reading and game 
rooms. And if you will come upstairs I will show you our 
free theatre.” 

“How cozy !” cried Mary, as they stood at its door. 

“There is something here to amuse the folks every night. 
We encourage the use of the theatre by -amateurs for their 
plays and musicals, and make no charge for its use for free 
lectures. And when it is not being used for something else 
we provide free movies. Come over now and see our club 
room that is at the disposal of any club desiring to meet here ; 
we permit them to have regular dates. Two young people’s 
debating societies are meeting here at present, and they are 
delighted with the privilege because, with a notice posted 
in the rotunda, they usually have an audience.” 

“Do you make any charge for the use of the room?” 
asked Mary. 

“None whatever,” Ed assured her, and smiled as he 
added : “you know people are generous at heart and dis- 
posed to be fair, and the clubs usually insist on paying us 
something.” 

He opened the double doors leading into a large room. 

“This is our banquet hall, and with the very shortest 
notice we are prepared to serve suppers at any price per 
plate, and to few or many. The acme of fellowship is reach- 


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159 


ed around the banquet board, you know — even if the spark- 
ling wine is missing. We are laying plans for a large ban- 
quet of our own in the near future — won’t you promise to 
come?” 

“You must not seek to pledge us so far in advance,” re- 
plied Mary, evasively. 

Ed led the way toward the rear of the building, where 
there was sound of music. 

“No explanation is needed here,” he announced, as they 
came to the door of an immense room full of marching 
children. 

“Miss Daffney is in charge of the older children and 
downstairs is a room not so large as this for the younger 
ones. This room can quickly be partitioned and the child- 
ren can play in groups. Miss Daffney and her volunteer 
assistants also have use of the other rooms when there are 
no conflicts.” 

“What is under this room on the first floor?” inquired 
Miss Ayres. 

“A large skating rink. Under the skating rink, in the 
basement, are two large swimming pools : one for the men 
and boys, and the other for the women and girls.” 

He led the way down to the skating rink. 

“Do they skate here all the time?” asked Mary, incredul- 
ously, as they stood watching a number of skaters. 

“No, it isn’t quite a Marathon. The regular skating 
hours are in the afternoon and at night but the beginners 
are permitted to practice here in the mornings. We have 
an expert in charge who, with his volunteer assistants, is en- 
deavoring to teach all who come how to skate with ease 
and grace.” 

“That must add a lot to the joy of skating,” suggested 
Miss Ayres. 

“So it does,” affirmed Ed, “and the rink is taking many 
of the young people away from the undesirable dances.” 

“When did you stop dancing, Ed?” asked Mary with a 
smile. 


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“When I stopped going with you,” he retorted, “and I 
do not have time now, really, even to read in the papers 
about the brilliant balls of Miss Ashton. When will you 
give your next, Mary?” 

“Just as soon as you and all the other Servers will 
promise to come,” she laughed, mischievously. 

“Mary has turned from the balls and dances, Mr. Phillips, 
and her whole interest now is in the kind of work you are 
doing,” interposed Miss Ayres. 

“John Trainor reformed me, I wonder who converted 
Mary?” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. But Mary re- 
fused to meet his glance. 

From the skating rink, he led the way to the pool and 
billiard room, which was adjoining. A number of players 
of both sexes were gathered around the tables. 

“Is the association of the sexes here free from all rude- 
ness and coarseness, Ed?” asked Mary. 

“Absolutely,” he assured her. “The very atmosphere of 
the Temple compels gentility and courtesy. John was right 
in his saying : ‘The association of the sexes in proper sur- 
roundings tends toward the refinement of the men; while 
their association in improper places tends toward the de- 
gradation of the women.’ We find that the women enjoy 
not only the pool and billiard room, but the bowling alleys 
as well. They bring their husbands to play with them in- 
stead of permitting them to go to the clubs and elsewhere.” 

“And where are the bowling alleys?” inquired Miss 
Ayres. 

“In the basement. Come, we’ll go down,” and he led the 
way down a broad flight of stairs to the half-story under- 
ground. 

“Everything is magnificent,” marveled Mary, “just like 
a Y. M. C. A. — except you haven’t a gymnasium.” 

“No, weYe not trying to compete with the ‘Y’ which has 
a work with the men that is peculiarly its own.” 

He led the way from the alleys to the swimming pools. 


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“These pools, like the alleys, are open only in the after- 
noons and at night. Doesn’t the water look inviting?” 

The girls were profuse in their expressions of approval 
and wonder. And Ed was sure he noted a new glow of 
satisfaction and elation in the eyes of Mary, as she gave 
her promise to come again soon. 


11 


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CHAPTER XIX. 

"know your neighbor day" 

I. 

In response to an invitation from the Minister’s Alliance, 
John consented to address them on the subject: "Co-op- 
eration in Reform." When he had concluded the main 
portion of his address, he glanced around, before continuing, 
to make sure who was present. He had become sufficiently 
acquainted with most of the ministers since taking charge 
of the Journal to know them personally. 

"In close connection with what I have been saying," he 
continued speaking to them, "I want to submit for your 
consideration a plan that has much to do with co-operation 
in reform work. If you think favorably, I trust you will 
appoint a committee to call on the mayor and on the other 
newspapers to find out if they, too, can give the scheme 
their approval. What I have in mind is the formal setting 
aside of a civic ‘Know Your Neighbor Day.’ And in order 
that there may be the proper co-operation on the part of 
all those necessay to the success of the plan it is wiser that 
you gentlemen rather than the Journal take the leadership. 
You will recognize how my proposition follows closely the 
topic I have just discussed, for we shall not have a full 
measure of reform until we can have the co-operation of 
all our citizens, and our citizens will never sincerely work 
together until they are drawn in closer acquaintance. The 
past teaches us that civilization progresses only so fast as 
men come to know and to trust one another. You are 
aware of the great work our Temple is doing in the way 
of getting folks acquainted. And I would congratulate you, 
too, on your work of bringing your congregations together 
in a social way." 

He paused a moment, and one of the ministers, his own 
pastor, thought he had concluded. 

"Tell us in detail just what your plan is, John." 


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“I was coming to that. My plan is to have the mayor 
issue a proclamation naming some Sunday in the near 
future as ‘Know Your Neighbor Day’ and designating cer- 
tain hours, say from three to five-thirty, as visitation hours. 
The citizens whose homes are on the north and east sides 
of the streets would be requested to remain at home as 
the receiving hosts, and the citizens whose homes are on the 
south and west sides would be requested to make visits to 
their neighbors who will be expecting them.” 

“Would you have the visiting indiscriminate, or simply 
on nearby neighbors?” one of the ministers inquired, in a 
puzzled tone. 

“Who is our neighbor?” interrogated John in return. 

“Shall I answer in the spirit of the modern day, or in the 
spirit of the Master?” demanded the minister. 

“Do you preach in the spirit of the modern day, or in the 
spirit of the Master?” replied John. 

“I preach that we shall not solve our problems until His 
spirit becomes the spirit of the modern day.” 

“Exactly,” cried John, “and on the morning of the Sunday 
that should be designated by the mayor as ‘Know Your 
Neighbor Day’ it would be appropriate for you ministers 
to preach from texts setting forth the Master’s interpreta- 
tion of our ‘neighbor.’ 

“And the newspapers would help to educate the people 
on the subject of neighborliness, I presume,” put in John’s 
pastor. 

“Yes, the press and the pulpit would have to join in an 
effort to sweep away the false conventions which separate 
the people, and in stirring up enthusiasm for the day.” 

“Is it your idea that later on the West and South-siders 
should play the hosts, and the North and East-siders go 
out as visitors?” 

“That is precisely my idea,” answered John. “If the 
first ‘Day’ is a success, a second ‘Day’ should follow a few 
weeks later.” 

“I think the idea is an excellent one,” exclaimed the 


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pastor, “and I move that the chair appoint a committee of 
three to wait on the mayor and on the other newspapers 
to ascertain if they will join in carrying out this plan.” 

The motion carried unanimously, and the committee was 
appointed. A few days later, the committee called on John 
and reported that the mayor and the newspapers thought 
favorably of the idea and were ready to co-operate. After 
discussing certain details with him, they left to call on the 
mayor again, with the request that he issue a proclamation 
naming the Sunday two weeks off as “Know Your Neighbor 
Day.” 

During the fortnight following, John devoted a most 
generous space in the Journal to the purpose of giving 
publicity and interpretation to the plan, and of stirring up 
enthusiasm for the “Day.” The people were advised just 
what to do in order to make it a success. “Do not call on 
folks you meet every day in business; or twice a week at 
the club ; or once a week at church ; get out and meet new 
people and make new friends.” “Do not open the gates as 
though you feared the dogs would be turned loose; every- 
body will be glad to see everybody else.” “Make it a sim- 
ple day, and do not try to out-dress your neighbors.” “Be 
human, for a change.” “Get acquainted; tell who you are, 
where you are from, and what your business is ; and find 
out the same about your neighbors.” “If you can’t receive 
in the house, take the chairs onto the porch, or onto the 
lawn, and let folks see that you are waiting for them.” 
“Who is my neighbor?” was answered with many “Good 
Samaritan” stories. 

The “Day” was one never to be forgotten in the city. It 
was the birthday of neighborliness and of a new city vision. 
The mayor and the newspapers received congratulations 
from all sides, and there was a great glad call for another 
“Day” soon. The papers published letters from many people 
telling their experiences. Touching instances were related 
of the first visitor in years. “I have been living in the city 
for two years and never before had had a visitor.” “My 


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friend and I have roomed at the Clifton for ten months 
without having met a soul except the landlady ; now we’re 
acquainted with so many good people,” wrote a young 
woman in hearty appreciation of the ‘‘Day.” /‘When he 
mentioned where he was from, I felt like shouting,” wrote 
an old man. “My neighbor gave me information about 
folks in a little village in Maine of whom I had not heard 
for years,” related another. “Don’t stop the ‘Days’ until 
we’ve had a chance to visit everybody in the city,” begged 
an enthusiast. “Wife and I decided to visit in a section 
of the city where we were sure we knew no one. The first 
person we met proved to be a cousin of my wife’s she did 
not know she had.” 

Some had received many visitors, while others had re- 
ceived only a few; but those who had entertained only a 
few were determined to go out and call on many when their 
“visitation” day came. This second “Day” followed a few 
weeks after the first. 

Shortly after the second “Know Your Neighbor Day” 
Mary and Ed were seated in Service Drug Store talking. 

“The two ‘Neighbor Days’ were wonderful successes, 
were they not, Ed?” 

“Indeed they were, Mary. Let’s see, you must have been 
a visitor this last time.” 

“Yes, I was, and I liked it better than being hostess. The 
first ‘Day’ I sat in our big home and received only a few 
callers, and they were folks I knew already. People thought 
they would not be welcome in the homes of the wealthy. 
But on my day out, I visited ten different homes. And my ! 
to think, Ed, I went into homes I would not have thought 
of entering a short year ago. Recent experiences have 
taught me that our view of life is in exact accord with the 
width of the window of our soul out of which we look at 
the world.” 

“Right you are, Mary ; that’s well put. A narrow window 
to the soul affords only a corresponding view; but a wide 


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window shows a broad expanse of life embracing all the 
sunshine and all the shadows.” 

“The ‘Neighbor Days’ certainly occasioned the letting of 
sunshine into many souls that before were dark and lonely. 
I wonder whose brain gave birth to the idea?” 

“Ideas and plans for the uplift of society lie dormant in 
the brains of many persons we little dream of, Mary. But 
I will tell you, confidentially, the idea of ‘Neighbor Day’ 
originated with John Trainor. We who are closest to him 
know that his big brain and big heart have been responsible 
for many plans for our city’s betterment. Whenever I see 
him thoughtful and smiling, I know he’s dreaming of some 
happy plan for society’s uplift.” 

“If you see Mr. Trainor smile, you are more fortunate 
than I,” remarked Mary. “He looks so serious, always, 
I hardly can think of him smiling.” 

“Which shows how little you know him, Mary. And to 
think, that of all persons in the world, you are the one who 
quickest could move him to a smile !” 

“Mr. Trainor’s actions speak very differently from what 
you say, Ed,” answered Mary tremulously. 

“You have misjudged him, Mary. You have held him 
accountable for things for which he was not responsible. 
You do not know the real John. He has loved you from the 
first day he saw you. It is the hopelessness, as he believes, 
of his love that shuts the sunshine out of his life. He 
nurses the morbid belief that he is to live and die un- 
mated.” 

“He has been avoiding me lately,” she suggested, fully 
conscious that her words were a frank avowal of her eager 
interest. 

“He has sought relief from his moody dreamings in hard 
work. And when he finishes some alterations at the Tem- 
ple, he will assume a task so arduous I fear for his break- 
down.” 

Mary turned the subject shortly, before it could reach 
a point that would bring her utter confusion. She had 


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learned many things she wanted to know ; and when she 
left Ed, a burden had been lifted from her heart. But a 
burden had likewise been added. She often had felt she 
was judging John unjustly, and condemning him without 
a hearing or a plea, and now her heart pained her at the 
thought of the shadows darkening his beautiful unselfish 
life. 

As she drove homeward, she had to pass the Temple; 
and the impulse to stop there grew stronger as she neared 
the place. She did not long contend against this desire : 
she was now too fully conscious of her new life craving, 
of her life need, and her repentant duty. She was conscious, 
too, of that strength which is the part of pure womanhood. 
Mary now had no thought other than to act with the cour- 
age of a woman who dares to follow the beckoning finger 
of Fate! 

She stopped when she reached the Temple; and as she 
left her car, she saw John sitting by a window, gazing out 
with a far-away look in his eyes, and with a shadow of 
sadness overspreading his strong, handsome face. Her 
heart became surcharged with that pity which is akin to 
mother-love! She passed on toward the entrance; and as 
she did so, someone spoke to her, and though she did not 
hear what was said, she nodded an answer, and passed 
slowly on into the stately building. As she had hardly 
formed a definite purpose, she paused to grasp the back of 
a large easy-chair, and stood in indecision. Someone else 
spoke, and again she smiled and nodded an answer — but 
did not heed what was said. John was sitting with his 
back toward her, over by the window — in his loneliness ! 
The sight and its significance tended to shut out every other 
consideration. A battle waged within her. And then, love 
and courage won the victory ! and she walked over to his 
side. 

“Mr. Trainor, may I express my admiration for the 
wonderful work you are doing ?”— she spoke in a low hesi- 
tating tone. 


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John did not answer, nor move; and she stepped around 
in front of him, thinking he might have fallen asleep. He 
looked up into her eyes, incredulously, and quickly struggled 
to his feet. 

“Perhaps you did not hear what I said/’ she began, un- 
steadily. 

“Pardon me, of course I heard you,” he cried, eagerly, 
“but your voice sounded like strains of music from a far-off 
heavenly country, and I thought surely I was dreaming 1” 

Mary blushed furiously. 

“And perhaps you’re sorry you were not dreaming,” she 
smiled, naively. 

“Would you be sorry to suddenly awake in Paradise?” 
he demanded. 

“I fear I would feel lost in Paradise,” she laughed. 

“And so do I feel lost now,” he maintained, “and con- 
fused and bewildered ! I’m not sure yet you are a reality, 
and I’m not having a delightful dream.” 

She extended h£r hand impulsively. 

“You can see I am flesh and blood,” she contended, “and 
again I want to express to you my admiration for the won- 
derful work you are doing, here and elsewhere in the city.” 

He grasped her hand and crushed it in his, as though 
he would hold it for all time, and it was with difficulty 
that she withdrew it. 

“Your faintest praise is a reward far greater th'-m I de- 
serve for any work I may have ever done,” he said in a 
low tone which throbbed with intensity, “and with your 
continued praise, there are no obstacles I would not strive 
to overcome.” 

“I fear you place too high an estimate on a woman’s 
praise. There was a time, I know, when men lived and 
died to win the praise of a woman; but I’m afraid those 
days passed with the passing of the men who made them 
glorious, and the women who inspired them.” 

“You do the men of our day an injustice as well as the 
women,” he protested, “The spirit of those olden days did 


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not pass with the passing of the men. Don’t you know 
that back of every glorious achievement' of our day, that 
back of every structure of steel, of every triumph of science, 
of every man-bird which flaunts itself above the clouds, 
there is a man, and back of that man is surely a v Oman’s 
smile?” 

“My, I thought you were so matter of fact, and here you 
are above the clouds ! May I ask if any woman’s smile is 
behind your wonderful work?” she demanded daringly. 

He smiled sadly, as he answered. 

“The only wonderful part about my work is that it is 
being done without the inspiration of a woman’s smile — 
and in fact in spite of a woman’s frown. Fate has been 
unkind to me, and has called upon me punishment I did not 
always deserve.” 

A shadow of pain flitted across her sympathetic face, and 
he feared what he had said had stirred the memory of his 
attitude toward her father. He did not dream that the 
pain was pity, and regret — for the suffering she had con- 
sciously caused him ! 

Mary did not reply, for at that moment Ed and Miss 
Ayres came rushing toward them. Mary’s guilty blush 
spoke to Ed while he was yet yards away, and when he 
reached them he was overflowing with joy. 

“Well what do vou know about this !” he exclaimed 
recklessly, as he grasped the hands of both at once. “Glory 
hallelulliah, and the ioy of angels besides! Isn’t it great?” 
he continued, turning toward Miss Ayres. “I feel like 
throwing an arm around the neck of each and giving them 
a double hug. Say, John, we’ll have to rename this Temple 
and call it a Temple of — well, I’ll tell you later,” he finished, 
with a broad smile in the direction of Miss Ayres. 

“Say,” that young woman was exclaiming, as she clapped 
her hands in an endeavor to supply cause for the color ris- 
ing to her cheeks, “these folks will have to go with us and 
we’ll surprise Mike, as well as being surprised by him.” 

“Of course they will,” cried Ed. “Mike has invited us 


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out/’ he explained, “and he won’t tell us what’s up — says he 
has a great surprise. I don’t know whether this is hog-kill- 
ing or melon-cutting time, but Miss Ayres and I couldn’t 
pass up the chance of pleasing Mike — and incidently our- 
selves,” he concluded with his usual happy smile. 

With the very first mention of the invitation by Miss 
Ayres, John had glanced quickly at Mary — and had noted 
the joyous answer in her eyes; 

Two of the happiest couples in the city soon entered 
Mary’s car and drove away for an afternoon of happy frolic 
— which was a forerunner of many gladsome and loving 
days to be spent together — in two’s and four’s and fifties ! 


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171 


CHAPTER XX 

"putting a smile on the face of the crowd!" 

I 

John and Ed were standing on Main Street again, watch- 
ing the ever passing crowd, always changing, yet ever the 
same in essentials. 

“Isn’t that your young friend Harry Townes, John, ex- 
changing smiles with the two pretty girls?" 

“Yes, that’s Harry, Ed — that’s he playfully thumping two 
young fellows on the back, now. Harry’s not the same boy 
he was some months ago." 

“Lots of folks in our city are not the same, John. I’m 
sure you have noted the change that has been coming over 
the crowd. They are not in the same pell-mell hurry they 
used to be. Glory be, they need to pause now and then to 
exchange smiles and greetings with new-found friends !’’ 

“Yes, Ed; already we’re putting a smile on the face of 
the crowd!" 

“The ‘Neighbor Days’ and Service Temple, John, and the 
wonderful work of the Journal — surely these deserve the 
lion’s share of credit." 

“The greater share, perhaps ; but not all the credit. See 
Ed, there goes the little doll-faced blonde to whom I called 
your attention once before. She would not be with that 
young fellow if she was not ‘alright.’ Let us hope that she 
has escaped for all time from such men as Jack Wilbur and 
his kind." 

“We have about put that class of men out of business in 
this city, John. With the road-houses and the rotten room- 
ing houses closed, and with the dance-halls and parks and 
other places of amusements in control of our watchful work- 
ers, they have no haunts in which to seek their prey." 

“And moreover those on whom they preyed are no longer 
meeting them half-way, Ed. The young women are finding 
it easier to have the companionship of worth-while young 


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men and consequently they are turning their backs on the 
wicked ones. When we are readily thrown into sympathetic 
touch with the helpful classes of companions we quickly 
shun the hurtful ones.” 

“At the rate of progress we’re making, John, our city 
soon will be rid of its most hurtful classes.” 

“What do you call the ‘most hurtful classes,’ Ed? Would 
you say the class most detrimental to society is that class 
which flaunts its vice in nauseating nakedness beneath our 
very nostrils? or, would you name that insidious class 
which gilds all vice and excuses it as necessary? Or per- 
haps you have in mind that prosperous monied set which 
cries ‘business is business’ while coining its wealth out of 
the ruined virtue of women and the liquor drowned souls 
of men! Or mayhaps, Ed, you consider those most dan- 
gerous and decidedly rotten who continually shout ‘personal 
liberty’ while meaning personal license and personal lust ! 
And you surely wouldn’t leave out of your catalogue that 
class which is eternally afraid of any sort of ‘change’ and 
whose cry is, ‘Let well enough alone.’ I imagine the devil 
welcomes these latter with chuckles of delight — he feels they 
will not attempt any sort of ‘change’ in hell !” 

“Hold on, John,” put in Ed, “or you’ll be having us all 
in the hurtful classes!” 

“Not on your life, old man; the world is chock full of 
good folks. But the trouble is, the most of them are asleep 
at the switch and need an alarm to awaken them. That’s 
where the agitators come in — as ‘society’s alarm bells’ !” 

“John, do you reckon they need an alarm bell, or a nag- 
ging beadle, in heaven to keep the angels on the job of being 
angelically good?” 

“It wouldn’t surprise me, Ed. When we think of what 
a beautiful world God has given us here, and the wonderful 
mastery over its forces which he permits us to acquire: 
the power to touch the desert waste and make it ‘blossom 
as the rose’, or to wave the magic wand of our wisdom 
and change the darkest night into the brightest day — when 


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we think of this, and the green valleys and silver streams, 
the perfumed flowers and luscious fruits, the feathered 
songsters and the spring-time love breezes — and Woman! 
— and little Children ! — and then think of our wasting our 
energies in hideous strife and starving competition with our 
brother-men, shall we marvel if the angels in heaven need 
to be prodded now and then to be kept on the job of being 
what they ought to be, and of doing what they ought to do — 
even if it be the brewing of ambrosial nectar?” 

“Oh, hold on, old man,” cried Ed, “or you’ll have spoiled 
both heaven and earth for me !” 

“I think we need to be prodded right now, Ed,” laughed 
John, “that striking clock reminds us that we must hustle 
if we are to keep our date.” 

“Oh, bother the ladies, John,” growled Ed. “When you 
get to your room you’ll find a note similar to the one I 
received : ‘Miss Ashton and Miss Ayres are very sorry 
they are compelled to break their engagement.’ Not a line 
of explanation. If women didn’t change their mind once in 
a while, they would go mad.” 

“It’s a blessed thing women can change their minds, Ed ; 
if they couldn't some men would die with broken hearts,” 
replied John happily. 

“You gents will have to move on — unless you’re paying 
rent on this particular piece of sidewalk,” ordered a big, 
fine-looking specimen of the genus cop, as he affably prod- 
ded them with his billy. 

“You’re a fine one, Kelly, to be telling folks to move on,” 
retorted John, “I watched you stand for ten minutes talking 
to that good-looking young woman.” 

“That was the missus, Mr. John. I’ll tell her you called 
her a ‘good-looking young woman’ and she will be tickled 
to death,” grinned Kelly, as he moved on, swinging his 
stick. 

“We have some fine men on the force now, John.” 

“Right we have, Ed; and if the Chief was given a freer 
hand we would soon have a model force. I was talking to 


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him the other day, and he said that in his opinion the tone 
of morality in this city had been uplifted marvelously in the 
past fifteen months.” 

“The crowd is catching, as you say, John, an increasing 
vision of a city truly worth while.” 

“Did you read in this afternoon’s Journal, Ed, the defense 
the Chamber of Commerce thought necessary to make of 
their slogan? Their cry has been for a ‘City Greater’, but 
no one has dreamed that they thought it necessary for a 
city to be ‘good’ in order to be truly ‘great.’ Their whole 
efforts have been expended in efforts to make our city 
greater in wealth and in numbers; but now they claim they 
want a ‘City Better’ as well as a ‘City Bigger.’ ’ 

“That is a wonderful triumph for the Journal editorials, 
John.” 

“Yes, but it is only half a victory, Ed. When we have 
persuaded them to forget the ‘Bigger’ part, and to devote 
all their energies toward a ‘City Better’ we will indeed have 
won a full victory. What is the wisdom in the idea of a 
city merely big? There is no wisdom in it, Ed. It was 
an idea born of the covetousness of a materialistic age— 
and we’re now reaping the curse of the greed that fathered 
it. The supreme limit of competitive folly was reached 
when our cities set themselves in competition one against 
the other in a wild effort to boast the largest population, or 
the largest proportionate increase in population. ‘Come 
here,’ one city has cried, ‘we offer you the best opportuni- 
ties !’ ‘Come here,’ another has cried, ‘We offer you the 
best opportunities — and the advertising mediums of the 
country have flared with truths half-told ! And why have 
they wanted the people to come? That they might find 
happier homes, where they might live wiser, better lives? 
Our age scoffs at the very idea ! They have wanted them 
to come for but one reason : increased population has meant 
increased property values — which has meant more money 
in the pockets of the propertied classes ! Yes, increased 


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population means more rich folks — and more hungry folks, 
as well!” 

“And the increase of population has had to come from 
‘neighbor’ cities, John.” 

“Or from the country districts, Ed. And now we’re 
reaping the fruit of our folly, and a “Back to the country’ 
movement has necessarily had to follow the ‘City Greater’ 
craze.” 

“Don’t you think, John, that the advertising boosters 
put one over, as it were, on the would-be city-builders by 
egging them on in their advertising campaigns?” 

“So they did, Ed; the advertising boosters shouted ‘Ad- 
vertise your city as you advertise your business !’ — know- 
ing all the time that it meant money in their own pockets. 
They may be honest from their view-point — both the ad- 
vertising booster and the city builder — but their view-point 
is ‘Get the money, Get the money !’ And if we call their 
attention to the figure of a gaunt visaged old grandmother 
fishing with her bony, trembling fingers in a garbage can 
for a crust of bread, they say to us : ‘The poor we have 
with us always!’ Hypocrites! — shall we say, Ed? Or is 
the term too strong?” 

“Not when we think of the grandmother and the garbage 
can, John — and the Master Himself used the word.” 

“So He did ; and we may put it down that when a citizen 
seeks to justify his wealth and to shift responsibility for 
the fact that some folks have to eat out of garbage cans, 
by quoting: ‘The poor always ye have with you’ — he is 
a hypocrite suffering with an acute moral attack of selfish 
greed ! Some of the poor we may have with us always, 
but, God continuing our helper, there will be a few thous- 
and less of the poor in this city when we get through making 
it over !” 

“Amen! John.” 

ii. 

The banquet hall of Service Temple of Fellowship had 
tables spread for the greatest banquet ever scheduled there. 


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The hall was decorated in festive colors and a band of 
music was assembled in its screened off corner. John was 
sitting at the head of the banquet board watching the men 
and women crowding through the doors and taking their 
places around the long tables. He was watching intently, 
for though he had not been permitted to call for Mary, he 
was expecting her to come with Ed and Miss Ayres. At 
last he saw them enter through the broad doors and seek 
the only vacant seats, far down at the end of the right 
hand table. The first course was served, while the band 
filled the hall with strains of music. The din of happy 
conversation was incessant, and continued while the other 
courses were served. John then rose to his feet to deliver 
the address of the evening. 

“My good friends,” he began, “do not fear that I shall 
cast a cloud over the feast we have enjoyed by wearying 
you with a long speech. All of you know who the Servers 
are, and what the Servers are doing; and most of you 
know the reason for this banquet, the motive behind this 
meeting. Therefore, I shall strike quickly to the very heart 
of my subject and tell you in as few words as possible just 
why we want your help, and just why you should want our 
co-operation. We claim we are Tn Business for Christ’ 
because it is through the medium of business that we are 
effectively transforming our dreams and passions and ener- 
gies into concrete accomplishments in the way of advancing 
the Master’s kingdom here on earth. In this age, before 
our potential powers can become active, living forces in- 
fluencing the times in which we live, they must pass through 
the medium of money. Money is the ammunition, dug from 
the mines of our energies, with which we are able to destroy 
the walls of the opposition, and to move on to a victorious 
purpose. 

“Many of you have been sitting in your homes, in your 
shops, in your offices, idly dreaming of how you would like 
to help make this old world — before you go out of it — a 
little better than it was when you came into it. But let 


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177 


me tell you that, unless you first translate your dreams, 
your passions, your energies, into the concrete shape of 
the dollar, or its equivalent, you will waste your lives in 
a vain endeavor to influence the times in which you live. 
The money-devil is the one you will have to fight in your 
effort to change things for the better, and you will have to 
fight the devil with his own fire. Mammon is the god 
regnant in the .hearts of the world today; and Mammon is 
therefore the god you will have to dethrone. 

“And let me tell you something else. While each of you 
may accomplish great things by yourselves singly, yet, the 
greatest forward movements are made possible only when 
men join their strength, their courage, their passions, and 
move on, not as a number of individuals fighting separately, 
but as a unified army presenting a solid front to the enemy. 
One may lead, yes — holding the banner pointing the way — 
but the tramping feet of the army behind, the flashing 
bayonets of a thousand, are what strike terror to the heart 
of the enemy and sweeps him from the field. Our organi- 
zation is fighting with the power of men, it is fighting with 
the power of money; and, most potently, it is fighting with 
the aid of the Holy Spirit of God! Come, join with us, if 
you want the advantages of momentum gained in the direc- 
tion you desire to go; join with us if you wish to feel the 
joy and strength and courage of comrades fighting by your 
side ; bleeding with you and dying with you, if need be ! 

“What have we done? What are we doing? And yet, we 
have but scratched at the surface of the things we hope to 
do. We have undeveloped plans of tremendous magnitude; 
but plans which we dare not, as yet, unfold to your un- 
strengthened faith. For the immediate present, we have 
taken the contract to make over this city. Isn’t that a 
man’s size job in itself? Does our city need making over? 
Is it already the ‘City Beautiful’ that the slogan of the sel- 
fish propertied classes would lead us to believe it is? Or 
lead us to believe they are trying to make it? Oh, my 
friends, do not live in the desuetude of such a belief ! They 
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have no thought of a city beautiful except in — spots ! 
Beautiful where the rich live ! Beautiful in the parks, per- 
haps — which serve to palliate and to pacify the poor! But 
over yonder, over there, in Hell Hollow, in the Devil’s Half 
Acre — great God; only Dante could picture the spot! A 
riot of ribaldry, murder, suicide, disease, damnation and 
death! And yet, that is a spot our riding, driving classes 
boast of! A necessary spot! We must herald our city as 
being wide-open in order that it may become greater and 
more prosperous ! Oh, yes, my friends, they would lull us 
to sleep with their clamour for a ‘City Beautiful’; but they 
do not mean beautiful in the Mill Street district ! That’s 
another necessary spot ! We must always have the soot and 
smoke, the filth and squalor, the loathsome disease, the 
poverty and, O God, the human misery and suffering sor- 
row of a factory section ! Fill the boggy mire with the 
bodies and souls of human beings, women and children, 
that the ball-room dancers may walk across with satin slip- 
pers unsoiled by the filth beneath !” 

The speaker could see in the faces of his hearers that 
they were gripped with interest in what he was saying. No, 
not in what he was saying; but in what was going on in 
their own minds and hearts. How powerless are words to 
express that which is stirring within the inmost soul ! Not 
the speaker’s words, but the Spirit of the Occasion ! That 
subtile something, within and without, which interprets us 
to ourselves and to each other, and electrifies our souls 
with a common thought and a common purpose ! He could 
see Mary’s eyes flashing with the fire of sympathetic un- 
derstanding; and with radiant approbation for his effort to 
set the souls of those before him throbbing with a new- 
born vision and a new-born purpose ! 

“Yes, my friends,” he continued, “our city has its beauty 
spots. And over there in the mansions on Paradise Row, 
beautiful women and grown men — yes, grown men — slum- 
ber long and sweetly on beds of ostermoor ease. And same 
as if it is right they should. Wait ! Whose muscles hewed 


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179 


the stone, whose very sweat wet the mortar, whose bone and 
sinew builded those mansions? Whose bodies were bended 
and broken and woven into the fine fabrics which drape the 
walls — and the women! Not the bodies of the men and 
women who dance the hours of the night, and sleep away the 
hours of the day! ‘Twas the bodies and souls of the men, 
women and children — yea, and of the children — who come 
out of, who live and suffer and die in, Hell Hungry Alley ! 
Hell Hungry Alley, where little children — of such is the 
kingdom of heaven ! — little children are being awakened in 
the clammy darkness of the early morning to answer the 
selfish call of man’s ghoulish greed ! Awakened, ere their 
little bodies have rounded out the hours of much needed 
rest ; awakened, from what should be the honey-heavy dew 
of slumber, while their little souls are still wrapped in a 
mantle of forgetfulness of the factory’s cheerless drudgery ; 
and while vain fantasies have changed the whirring of the 
spindle wheels into the music of angels sitting on the edge 
of a glorified cloud ! Awakened, ere the morning sun has 
come to bring the bright shadow of God’s peace into their 
cheerless homes ; awakened, to take their seats around their 
coverless tables and to munch their crusts out of their 
famine shriveled palms ! 

“And then, to see them come forth from their hovels of 
poverty ! Do they come forth with their arms laden with 
school books? No, only their hearts are laden, laden with 
thoughts of many miserable hours of work and of weari- 
ness ! And do they wend their way with fun and frolic 
toward a temple of learning, there to drink into their little 
souls the glory of knowledge, and to have their fragile 
bodies shaped into manly men and comely women? Not 
so ; they wend their way toward the prison gates of the 
factories’ walls, there to have their little bodies and souls 
woven into the warp and woof of every yard that comes 
from the spindles’ ceaseless whir ! O crime of civilization ! 
O shame of humanity ! But we need not hang our heads 


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in disgrace, nor hide our faces in shame ; for hanging heads 
and hidden faces will not shut out the vision ! 

“Oh, my friends, does not the cry of these children ring 
in your ears like a battle challenge? And are you who are 
willing to die for your country not willing to live for your 
country’s children? Their starving bodies are calling to 
you ! Yea, more, Womanhood’s virtue is calling to you ! 
Men’s sinking souls are calling to you ! The Master’s voice 
is calling to you! And there is a New City in travail 
in our souls that must have birth ! Come, join with us, and 
win Victories of Peace more glorious than those of War! 

“Remember Roman’s twelfth chapter! T beseech you 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, 
which is your reasonable service!’ 

“Come, join, with us; look up and live and laugh and 
love, and best of all, LIFT!” 

When John had concluded, there was a shuffling of feet, 
a scraping of chairs, and the banqueters rose, while a hub- 
bub of voices filled the hall. His eyes flashed through the 
company of moving heads and shoulders, and far down at 
the other end, he caught sight of a pair of triumphant brown 
eyes calling to him ! He gently elbowed aside those who 
were crowding around to congratulate him, and pushing and 
shoving and apologizing and smiling his way, he made 
progress toward those two irresistible stars! He grasped 
the hand Mary held out, and eagerly waited her words. 

“I’ve caught your vision, John,” she whispered excitedly, 
“and I want to join the Servers!” 

“Only on one condition,” he exulted with a glad pres- 
sure, “that you consent to a change of your name !” 

She darted a look at him — and decided she could not 
trust him. 

“Aren’t you ashamed,” she pouted, “to ask me here; I’m 
afraid to give you an answer in this crowd !” 

“Come on,” he almost cried aloud for joy, “let’s go where 


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181 


your’re not afraid to answer me!” And together, with 
trembling joy, they forced their way out into the night, and 
into — the Day! 






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“THE SERVERS AT WORK” 


















































































































































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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER. * PAGE. 

I. “America Will Go To Hell!” 181 

II. “I Too, Must Help To Fight God’s Battles”. .191 

III. Jack Investigates The Servers 198 

IV. Jack Joins The Servers 214 

V. Old Glory, Or The Red Flag? .221 

VI. Modeltown 232 

VII. Planning for State Wide Expansion 243 

VIII. Lovers 250 

IX. Diverging Roads Of Destiny 257 

X. Health Adjustments In A City 263 

XI. Modeltown’s Further Progress , 274 

XII. In The Big City 288 

XIII. Municipal Adjustments 294 

XIV. Organizing A Village 305 

XV. Can One Will To Love Another? 313 

XVI. Victor and Courtney Again 324 

XVII. The Melting Pot 335 

XVIII. Friends United 346 

XIX. Jack In The Big City 356 

XX. The P'uture 372 

XXL “Comrades All!” 388 









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187 


CHAPTER I. 

"AM ERICA WILL GO TO HELL !” 

I 

"Now that we’ve won, we’ll go to hell. America will go 
to hell !” 

"But why?” 

John Trainor turned quickly and gave his attention to the 
conversation of two men seated nearby. As the speakers 
faced each other, the extreme contrast in their physiques 
and in their clean-cut, vigorous profiles, challenged his 
further interest. One was of olive complexion, with tense 
eyes and trimly clipped black hair; the sharpness of his 
hatchet profile was relieved and softened by its youthful- 
ness. The other was decidedly blonde with a clear-white, 
ruddy complex-ion, clear gray eyes, and almost sandy close- 
cropped hair; his profile was well-rounded except for the 
firmly set jaws. 

"But, why, Dal?” demanded the dark complexioned 
young fellow. "Why do you predict such an infernal fate 
for our country now that we’ve won? Besides, I don’t like 
your tone; had you any doubt about our winning?” 

"None whatever,” snapped the square jaws of the other. 

"Then why are we necessarily headed toward perdition 
now that we’ve won?” 

"We may not necessarily be headed there, Rod ; but all 
indications point to our being chronologically destined along 
that road.” 

"But why?” persisted the other. "Everyone else be- 
lieves that the condition of the whole world will be made 
wonderfully better because of the war. Surely, the pur- 
pose of the awful conflict, as we now conceive it, was to 
insure universal democracy.” 

"Insure democratic governments, of the present type, 
Rod ; but not the democracy of peoples. The larger ques- 
tion still remains unsettled.” 


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“But in a democracy the people are the government, Dal ; 
and the government the people.” 

“Theoretically, that’s true, but it is far from being in 
reality; it is not true when a supposedly democratic gov- 
ernment is, in fact, a government of the few, by the few, 
for the benefit of the few. While we may hope that the 
successful ending of the war has insured the extermination 
of all kings, all crowns, and that the world has indeed been 
made safe for the democracy of governments, the larger 
question still confronts us, and it looks as if only bloody 
conflicts will settle the question of the relationship of each 
people to their own government.” 

“But that’s pessimism, Dal — sheer pessimism !” 

“Better a pessimism that points out and seeks to avert, 
than the dull lethargy such as permitted the world war. 
There were unmistakable signs pointing to that terrible 
catastrophe, and there are signs now, pointing to others 
that yet may come.” 

“And those signs — ?” 

“Are many. The closed shop, for instance, and its sig- 
nificance. The Red Flag. Just realize that bourgeoise and 
proletariat have become commonly accepted terms of class 
designation in America!” 

As they rose from their seats, Dal nodded towards the 
rear of the large rotunda and remarked: “That seems to 
be a refreshment stand back there.” 

“Yes, but not my kind of refreshments,” laughed Rod, as 
he leaned against a chair while his companion went over 
to the soda fountain. 

John Trainor got up and, with a quite evident limp in 
his gait, joined the young man by the chair. 

“My name is Trainor, John Trainor,” he said. 

The dark featured man, who had lapsed into a slight 
. reverie, started perceptibly as he replied : “And Victor Rod- 
ney is mine.” 

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before?” 

“No, this is the first time I’ve been here,” was the reply. 


THE SERVERS 


189 


“My friend wanted to see the place — and I, too,” he added, 
with a laugh containing just a suspicion of a sneer, “had a 
curiosity to see this unique marriage bureau.” 

“Marriage bureau?” repeated Trainor, frowning and 
flushing, as he emphasized the question. 

“Why, yes,” declared Rodney, scrutinizing his ques- 
tioner. “I have knowledge of a number of marriages that 
came about as a consequence of acquaintances formed here. 
In fact, I have just divorced one of the couples — easily 
joined, quickly separated, you know,” he sneered. 

Those who have read “The Servers,” are familiar with 
Service Temple of Fellowship. They read of it as being a 
stately building, magnificent in proportions and equipment 
and rich in furnishings. A place where whole families 
gathered to enjoy the blessings of friendship and fellow- 
ship, and where strangers came, too, and over the entrance 
to the building they read the legend, “You enter here as a 
stranger but once.” In the Temple there were no require- 
ments of conventional introductions. Members of the Serv- 
ice organization were in charge of the building, and their 
pervasive authority, and the general atmosphere of the 
place, together with the hearty co-operation of those who 
visited it most frequently, were sufficient to insure the 
proper deportment of all who visited there. John Trainor 
had never heard aught but words of praise and commenda- 
tion for the Temple, and, therefore, he was surprised by 
this sneering reference. 

“Of course, we know, Mr. Rodney,” he admitted, “that 
numerous marriages have resulted as a consequence of close 
friendships formed here; but if a few of those marriages 
have proved unfortunate, it is still a matter that is merely in- 
cidental to the greater helpfulness of the Temple. When 
you have been here oftener, I think you will agree with 
me.” 

“I shall never agree with promiscuity of acquaintance !” 
exclaimed Rodney, warmly. “There are everywhere, many 
proper channels for the formation of friendships.” 


190 


THE SERVERS 


“We think the Temple is a proper channel,” smiled John; 
“and we believe it is a wonderful substitute for many other 
places that are wholly unworthy. The mission of the Tem- 
ple is to gratify certain primordial instincts that are planted 
deep in the natures of men and women; for where gratifi- 
cation of these elemental demands is unduly restricted by 
false conventions, satisfaction of them will be sought in 
ways that are undesirable, and very often harmful. The 
longing for fellowship, for friendship, is planted deep in the 
hungry heart of humanity — the mating of the sexes is in 
the structure of the universe; and our temple is seeking to 
serve these human needs. When you more thoroughly com- 
prehend its mission, I’m sure you’ll be its friend.” 

“I’m slow to take up new fads and fancies, and I cannot 
approve the unconventional friendships that are formed 
here.” 

“The ways of men must be ever changing if the diffi- 
cult problems of life are to be solved,” contended John. 
“And the suitable and happy mating of men and women is 
one of the problems to be worked out. As a lawyer you 
must be well aware of the present alarming number of mis- 
matings that is evidenced by the over-crowding of divorce 
dockets.” 

“And you would prescribe promiscuity of acquaintance 
as a cure-all for such conditions?” cried Rodney, incred- 
ulously. 

“No,” said John, smilingly ignoring the other’s antagon- 
ism ; “I’m no purveyor of cure-alls, and I wouldn’t attempt 
to prescribe any certain panacea for crowded divorce dock- 
ets. But I do believe that freer channels of acquaintance 
would lead to a lesser number of mismatings than now re- 
sult from too resistricted acquaintance. That men and 
women are feeling a strong need to overcome the cramping 
barriers of convention in their effort to find their mates is 
evidenced by the many questionable matrimonial agencies 
infesting our larger cities with inflaming advertisements in 
the cheap papers. We believe our Temple, as a medium 




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191 


of free intercourse, is far more refining in its influences 
than are these matrimonial agencies, the cabarets, the dance- 
halls, and such other baneful places.” 

At this moment they were joined by the blonde young 
fellow who had been Rodney’s companion. 

“Meet Mr. Dalhart, Mr. Trainor,” exclaimed Rodney, in- 
troducing his friend. “Jack and I were college mates.” 

John Trainor grasped the outstretched hand of young 
Dalhart ; and in the responsive grip that met his, he felt the 
magnetic vigor of strong manhood ; and in the clear gray 
eyes, he read cleanness and directness. 

“I’m delighted to meet you, Mr. Dalhart.” 

“And you, Mr. Trainor, I feel that 1 know already,” 
smiled the young man cordially. “In our city, we’ve heard 
a great deal concerning the work of yourself and associ- 
ates.” 

“Are you a stranger here, then?” 

“Hardly that, but my home is in the adjoining state on the 
north.” 

The attention of the three men was suddenly drawn to 
soft strains of music and the tender pathos of a woman’s 
voice coming from the front part of the rotunda. They 
looked and saw a young woman standing by a piano — 
singing: a young woman, the paleness of whose delicate 
features was accentuated by a broad-brimmed black hat and 
a trimly fitting black suit. The men stood listening with 
intense appreciation to the tender pathos of the song. 

“By Jove ! the woman and her singing both are beauti- 
ful,” whispered Victor. 

“A young mother in sorrow, or a beautiful young widow,” 
suggested his friend. 

“The young woman is Miss Innington, her accompanist 
is Miss Chester; they’re very close friends,” explained John 
Trainor. 

The singer suddenly broke off in the middle of a note 
and impatiently folding the sheet of music, substituted an- 
other piece in its stead. The young woman playing glanced 


192 


THE SERVERS 


up at her with a smile of understanding and then struck the 
notes of the new selection. But Margaret Innington carried 
a touch of the pathos of the previous song into the bright- 
ness of the new one in spite of herself ; and before reach- 
ing the end of a verse, she impatiently closed the pages of 
music and turned away from the piano. Her friend joined 
her, and with their arms around each other’s waists, they 
passed out of the building. 

Victor Rodney flashed a look at the retreating figures, 
and exclaimed to John Trainor: “I’m delighted to have met 
you, Mr. Trainor. I’ve known you by your works, of 
course, but as I’m unsympathetic towards all reform move- 
ments, I shall leave Jack here to learn all he can about what 
you’re doing.” And with this slight explanation, Rodney 
excused himself and left them. 

“It’s a long story, Mr. Dalhart; how we have gone about 
our work in this city,” suggested Trainor, “but when any- 
one is interested, we endeavor to give him all the informa- 
tion we can.” 

“I am interested in your work,” exclaimed Dalhart, 
quickly and earnestly. “The fact is, Mr. Trainor, I’m in 
a devil of a shape. It isn’t so long ago that I woke up to 
the realization that I’ve been headed in life towards — 
nothing ! I’ve been helping Dad to carry the burden of his 
big business, and looking forward to the day when he 
should drop out and leave the whole burden to me to carry 
until Dalhart third should come on to the scene. But, by 
thunder! man, I’ve awakened to the fact that the elephan- 
tine business I’m helping to father is an ugly thing! It’s so 
despicable and ugly that I’ve learned actually to hate it !” 

“I understand what you mean,” said John. “You’ve come 
to the realization that the big business which your father 
has spent the years of his life in building, and to which he 
expects you to succeed as a glorious heritage, is, in fact, a 
business whose very foundations are grounded on the mis- 
ery and slavery of human beings, and in your sight it has 
become an ugly thing!” 


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193 


“As ugly as hell!” exclaimed Dalhart fiercely. “Men, 
women, and children — we employ them all — are its victims. 
It’s a monster of red hot furnaces, hissing steam boilers, 
tens of thousands of flying shuttles, and countless, countless 
machines with a human slave lashed to each one of them ! 
Lashed there through all their days until they die.” 

“Does your father now see it as you do?” 

“Yes, Dad sees it as I do, but he has served it so long 
that hell continue to serve it as a matter of course. Dad’s 
sacrificed everything worth while in life to his business — 
home life, pleasure, travel, knowledge and all spiritual as- 
pirations. But I’m rebelling — openly rebelling — against it, 
not only for myself, but for all those who are in servitude 
with me. Why, Mr. Trainor, there’s a thousand women or 
more serving the leviathan monster of our big business — 
a thousand women who oughLto be at home nursing babies.” 

“And the sadder thought,” exclaimed John, “is the knowl- 
edge that your industrial plant is only a small part of the 
ten thousand-tentacled octopus that is crushing the man- 
hood and womanhood of the world in its cruel coils !” 

“Yes, that’s what turns my sleep into a nightmare — 
dreaming of the monstrosity of an industrial system that 
turns God-created men into beastly slaves ! But what can 
we do, man, other than to stand helplessly by, or to cry 
aloud in despair! Christianity? Socialism? Yea, they 
satisfy me ideally , but it’s the realities of life that I’ve been 
bred to deal with — and I want to do something, and do it 
now! 

“Christian Socialism is coming,” declared John. 

“Yes, but too damned slow !” cried the other fiercely. 
“When I see the unsatisfied longing in the faces of the men 
I meet and think of the awful needlessness of the human 
suffering in the world today, I feel like I want to shut my 
ears to the preachers of religions and the propagandists of 
far-off Utopias and to — do something right now! But 
what can a man do, Trainor? What can one pigmy do? 
When the ghastly war reached our shores and caught Old 
13 


194 


THE SERVERS 


Glory in its flaming hell I rushed to the nearest recruiting 
station and shouted, ‘Send me to France, right now!’ They 
looked me over and sized me up and said I had a crooked, 
or a battered, or some wrong sort of a knee joint and that 
I wouldn't do! But man I’ve got to do something. If I 
couldn’t fight the enemies of human freedom on the fields of 
France, I must fight them here at home!” 

“Selfishness, frenzied greed, crass materialism, inane 
diffidence, these are the enemies we must fight at home,” 
exclaimed John Trainor, “and God knows, there’s need for 
valiant men to do the fighting. American freedom is fast 
becoming an idle dream of the past, and with our money 
lords, property princes, and poverty stricken wage earners, 
we’re fast receding into the feudalism of medieval Europe.” 

“Yes, and with the war ended, Trainor, we’ll drop into 
hell — a hell of frantic materialism leading to — anarchy and 
revolution ! Peace has brought the supreme crisis in Co- 
lumbia’s history! Now the devil will lead us up the moun- 
tain, and, pointing to the empty warehouses of the world, 
promise us untold wealth if we continue to bow down in 
worship of the God Mammon ! Our nation faces the su- 
preme temptation of selling its soul for greed of gold ! 

“Is the temptation any greater than it was ? 

“It is. With the warehouses and granaries of the entire 
world empty, with the industrial plants of many nations 
crippled and dismantled, the demand for American made 
goods will soon tax the productive power of our fields, fac- 
tories, and workshops to their utmost capacity. Our war- 
made merchant marine will soon circle the globe ! And 
with the ranks of able-bodied toilers decimated by the awful 
toll of war, our laborers will be in demand as never before — 
with competition at a minimum, and wages at a maximum. 
For a time, our country will become rampant with prosper- 
ity ! The rich will grow richer and likewise more insolent. 
The bourgeoise will revel in sweets of luxury never before 
tasted. The stomachs of the proletariat will wax full ; and 
for all practical purposes, the red flag will be furled. We’ll 


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195 


climb the heights of prosperity and reach the summit of — 
Godlessness! Yes, that will be the concomitant. Luxury 
and debauchery and frenzied profligacy will run riot among 
the rich, and prostitution, crime and insanity among the 
populace. The fate of our American Republic — like the 
Roman one, before — will hang in the balance.” 

“That’s true!” exclaimed Trainor. 

“The day of reckoning and reaction will come when the 
warehouses of the world have once again been filled. Un- 
employment and great idleness must then ensue. Then 
wealth will again become concentrated in the hands of the 
few; and the bourgeoise will gradually suffer increasing 
economic pressure, and the stomachs of the proletariat 
presently will become gnawing empty. And with gnawing 
empty stomachs comes revolution. Then we shall see the 
ferocious poor, and the insolent reckless rich, with blood- 
thirsty snarls spring at one another’s throats ! Then we 
shall see this ‘newest and noblest effort of man after free- 
dom and peace — the American Republic’ — turned into a 
slaughter house for human beings ! It’s a fearful picture, 
Trainor !” 

“Too gloomy, not to cause a patriot to shudder ; and I 
really fear, sometimes, it will be as you’ve portrayed. And 
yet,” insisted John, “surely we’ve now reached the bottom 
of the abyss, and further progress — in all lands under the 
sun — must be upwards !” 

“The progress of the world may be upward,” exclaimed 
Dalhart, “but unworthy individual nations, in the future, as 
in the past, will continue to crumble and fall. The fate of 
our nation rests with her patriots — with the sons and 
daughters of Washington and Lincoln. We have ten, may- 
be twenty, years in which to work to save our country 
from the fate I’ve predicted. But it can’t and won’t be 
done with fine phrasings, rhetorical rhapsodies, political 
subtleties, nor theological dissertations. Avarice, frenzied 
greed, and cynicism are brutal facts, grim realities, and 
their destroying influences can be stayed only with a patri- 


196 


THE SERVERS 


otism that proves itself in concrete, unselfish service, and a 
religion that demonstrates itself in actual ministration and 
the ennoblement of men. But where can we look for this 
patriotism of service, this religion of sacrifice ?” 

“You can look for it among the Servers/’ cried John, his 
eyes flashing with pride. “In the Service organization 
you’ll find men and women burning with the zeal of pa- 
triotic service and religious sacrifice. And though we, 
alone, may not be able to preserve our country from the 
disaster you predict as possible, nevertheless, like the men 
of the Marne, the Somme, and the Isonzo, we’ll be found 
gloriously doing our part !” 

“I believe it !” cried Dalhart, “and that’s really why I’m 
here to investigate the Servers ! The article in last week’s 
Evening Post stimulated me to the point of coming here.” 

“That is bringing us many inquiries,” said John, “and 
we’re at our wits end to know just how to answer them. 
Heretofore, we’ve discouraged all outside publicity concern- 
ing our movement, for we feared a growth in numbers that 
would be more cumbersome than efficient. Sometimes 
movements of great ‘promise are defeated by bounding to 
abnormal growth before strong leaders are drawn to, or de- 
veloped within them. The fact, however, that men of your 
calibre are now being attracted to our movement is a prom- 
ising augury of the future. Come, let me show you some 
of our varied activities.” 


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197 


CHAPTER II. 

“i, TOO, MUST HELP TO FIGHT GOD'S BATTLES/’ 

I 

When Victor Rodney left Service Temple of Fellowship 
he followed the two young women in a leisurely manner, 
overtaking them when they stopped to wait for a trolley car. 
Victor lingered on the corner, apparently only mildly in- 
terested, and busied himself with a survey of the two girls. 

Margaret Innington and her friend Courtney Chester 
contrasted in appearance as strongly as did Victor Rodney 
and his friend Dalhart. Margaret, with her delicately 
chiseled oval face and slender body, appeared almost girlish 
beside the darker featured Courtney with her stronger, more 
supple frame. Both were bountifully blessed with the 
charms of beauty, grace and intellectuality. When they en- 
tered the street car, the young man watching them turned 
regretfully away. 

Victor was a lonely young fellow, in spite of a host of 
friends of both sexes. Though he was cruelly matter of 
fact in his dealings with the affairs of everyday existence 
he was ultra romantic in his ideals. Thoughts of the girls 
he had seen at the Temple remained with him, and wher- 
ever he went for several days he was constantly on the look- 
out for them. Failing to discover them, the recurring in- 
clination to pursue his quest to the place where he had first 
seen them, irritated him strongly. At last, in spite of his 
contemptuous dislike for the Temple he yielded. 

On entering the building he glaced around him, and, over 
by a window, he saw Margaret and Jack Dalhart close to- 
gether in serious conversation. Victor turned away, feel- 
ing envious that his friend should have been more fortunate 
than he. 

Margaret Innington had only recently returned to this 
country after a number of years spent in England. She 


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had lost an only brother in the battle of the Marne, and she 
was telling Jack Dalhart about him. 

“When the message came/’ she said, “we were not pre- 
pared, so to speak, for we hadn’t heard that he was even 
wounded — and the news of his death told doubly on that 
account. I didn’t cry, and neither did Mother — that is, not 
very much. I grew cold and hard with hate, and mother 
couldn’t understand me — and she didn’t try. She took it 
all wonderfully and did not give way to anguish and grief, 
as many mothers around her were doing when the messages 
came. Mother seemed to be just waiting. And then she 
laid down in bed — not as one does to sleep — but as though 
one were to lie down in one’s coffin — and arrange one’s 
self !” 

Jack bowed his head, as though he understood; and the 
young woman continued evenly: “I did nothing for several 
weeks, but hate. At first, I hated the German’s most ; and 
then, I hated God ! 1 hated Him because He seemed to be 
on the side of our enemies. I hated Him for the mock 
civilization He had made — a civilization that can kill, and 
kill, and kill and still not become satiated with its blood- 
lust. I stopped going to church. I hated the church be- 
cause it seemed to be just a house — standing there. I turned 
away whenever the rector came, because I would have told 
him to go and repeat his lies to the dead ! They would have 
received them with less scorn than I. Then, I, too, con- 
ceived the intense craving to go to the trenches and— kill ! 

“Some months passed in this way before Dick’s dying 
message came, through a wounded comrade: ‘Tell Mother 
it’s glorious to die for God and Country! Tell Sis I love 
her !’ 

“Of course, I gave way before the nobility and grandeur 
of his message to mother. It was like Dick. And his mes- 
sage to me couldn’t have been different. He had always 
been my sweetheart-brother, and his dying words could not 
have been dearer.” 

She dried her eyes and continued: “I found God again. 


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God is in the good things of life — in love, honor, nobility 
and unselfishness. He had no part in the horrible hate of 
our enemies. God was on our side, and Dick was fight- 
ing God’s battle. Of course, I began to feel that I, too, must 
help to fight God’s battles. But what can a woman do? 
Sometime later, I came here, where Mother’s only sister 
lives; and one day I wandered into this beautiful building. 

I love to come here now and mingle with the young girls, 
and help them to understand what a wonderful world we 
are living in, and what a wonderful part we women, some 
day, will play in its affairs, if we keep ourselves worthy.” 

Jack Dalhart vowed to himself that if one of God’s angels 
had come down from heaven to take up its abode in the 
stately building, there would have been no greater charm 
added, nor more secure protection afforded the young 
women who came there than there was by the presence of 
the young woman sitting by his side, so delightfully making 
him her confidant, and so calmly discussing the realities 
of life. 

“I liked your phrase,” he cried, “ ‘fighting God’s battle,’ 
that must become the passion of men— fighting God’s bat- 
tles. You’re one of the Servers, are you not?” he asked 
eagerly. 

“No,” she said, half apologetically. “You see, I’ve not 
quite found myself yet. I still have to rely on — others. 
Aunt Catherine is high-church, and she says the Servers 
and the Salvation Army give her the all-overs. My other 
closest adviser is a girl friend, Courtney Chester. She’s 
not high church, but there’s not anything in the Bible Court- 
ney doesn’t know. And she says we’re justified by faith, 
and not by works. I do not like to think of hurting Aunt 
Catherine and Courtney, but when I’m a little surer of my- 
self I’m afraid I’ll have to.” 

As he watched the deep blue of her eyes flash purple 
when she spoke positively, the young man had no doubt that 
eventually she unhesitatingly would do whatever she tie- 
termined was the right thing to do-— and he was trying to 


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frame his words to tell her something like this when she 
remarked : 

“You’re one of the Servers, are you not?” 

“I shall be tonight,” he hastened to reply. “You see, 
I’ve been helping Dad with his big business, and I had to 
go home to arrange things with him. But tonight, I shall 
formally become one of the Servers — and I see wonderful 
days ahead!” 

II. 

When Victor Rodney turned away from seeing Dalhart 
and the young woman in such earnest conversation, he 
wandered restlessly over to the opposite side of the spacious 
rotunda and dropped into an easy chair. Hanging on the 
wall directly in front of him was a large sized painting 
lettered: “The Dawn Of Creation,” and he unconsciously 
fell to studying it. He didn’t feel the presence of anyone 
sitting near him until a woman’s clear voice interrupted 
his thoughts. 

“The picture is remarkable, don’t you think so.” 

He glanced quickly to the side, whence came the voice, 
and into the keenly intelligent brown eyes of the young 
woman who had been the companion of Margaret Inning- 
ton. 

“Why, yes, it is remarkable in some respects,” he agreed, 
suddenly aware of a surge of interest in life. “It’s a rare 
display of the imaginative faculties of one man.” 

“And it gives one such a vivid sense of the reality of the 
creation,” added the girl. 

“I hardly agree with you there,” he demurred. “It gives 
me more a sense of the futility of one’s trying to paint — 
the universe on a marble.” 

“It’s wonderfully realistic to me,” she insisted : “Almost 
as much so as the word portrayal in Genesis. When I read 
Genesis, I almost can see God in His successive acts of cre- 
ation.” 

“You have a more fervid imagination than I,” he pro- 
tested. “The story in Genesis strikes me as being quite as 


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fantastic as Spencer’s nebular hypothesis seems — cold 
blooded.” 

“Do you not believe the story in Genesis?” she asked 
quickly. 

“As a true historical account of the creation, no.” 

“Don’t you believe in the Bible?” 

“I’m afraid not,” he said, shaking his head. 

She didn’t reply for a moment, while her brown eyes 
searched his. “It pains me to hear you say that,” she con- 
cluded, mildly. 

“But how can anyone believe in the Bible — as the re- 
vealed word of a God?” he protested. 

“I do,” she said simply. 

“As a divine revelation from God to man?” 

“Yes,” she answered firmly. 

“That would be harder for me to believe than it must 
have been for the whale to swallow Jonah,” he persisted, 
and then catching a flash of resentment in her dark eyes, he 
added quickly, “I didn’t mean that in a spirit of levity.” 

“Do you believe in God?” she asked coldly. 

“I don’t know,” he answered, after an instant’s pause. 

“Are you an atheist?” 

“Hardly that,” he said ; “at least, not a dogmatic atheist. I 
do not positively deny — nor do I affirm — the existence of a 
God. Perhaps you’d call me an agnostic.” 

“But a creation must have a creator.” 

“Yes,” he smiled, “but I can’t refrain from going with 
Spencer, behind that creator for his creator, and so on, ad 
infinitum.” 

“I see you have searched for God,” she said, “but it has 
been with your intellect. Why don’t you try searching for 
God with your heart?” 

“I’ve searched with my heart, mind, and soul,” he in- 
sisted. 

“Do you attend church?” 

“Rarely, now ; it gives me such a feeling of hyprocrisy — 
there’s so much formality and insincerity in the church. 


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The religion of today is a religion of mere formality — the 
formality of church membership — of church attendance — 
of church worship. There is little faith in it.” 

“Oh, but I think you’re wrong,” she protested, earnestly. 

“Just you try baring the hearts of your church mem- 
bers,” he insisted, “and you’ll find ‘sceptic’ written on four- 
fifths of them. If they dared to think, your church mem- 
bers would be forced openly to admit their scepticism.” 

“That’s not true,” she contended. “They do not think, 
as you say — by which I presume you mean they are not 
seekers after God in the domains of science and philoso- 
phy — they are not rationalists — because their very religion 
is founded on faith.” 

“That’s what I deny,” he insisted. “Faith is a living, 
positive, active force demonstrable in its effects, and if your 
church members had real faith they would demonstrate it. 
in their daily living; and your church would not be the 
mere negation that it is — with a militant branch, only here 
and there.” 

“May I ask,” she broke in suddenly, “what is your bus- 
iness, or profession?” 

“I’m an attorney-at-law,” he replied, “but why do you 
ask?” 

“I’m not surprised,” she said, simply. “You lawyers so 
often are especially severe in your criticisms of the church. 
I sometimes wonder if you ever pause to reflect that the 
church, as an institution in this world, is an edifice that 
rests on the shoulders of clay moulded men — even as your 
Temple of Justice rests on the shoulders of men. And if 
you will pardon me, it is often suggested that your own 
boasted Temple, in this day and time, has also become an 
Augean stable that needs cleaning !” 

The sharp and clever turning of the attack against his 
own profession somewhat took the young man’s breath ; but 
he replied quite frankly: 

“I admit your charge has much truth in it; the ethics of 
the legal profession today undoubtedly are quite counter 


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to what the purer minds of the nobler practicioners of the 
past would have had them become.” 

“I should think,” she said, “that the ideal of every law- 
yer would be to have even-handed justice dealt out; but it 
seems that the passion and the actual practice of each ad- 
vocate now, is to endeavor to win for his client, regardless 
of the pure justice involved.” 

“In a large measure, that’s true,” he admitted. “But 
the theory no doubt is that if the attorney for each side 
presents his client’s case in its best aspect, the court then 
will be so well advised of the respective merits of the issues 
involved as to be able to render a just verdict. But the 
practice, undoubtedly, has degenerated to the extent that 
the majority of lawyers do not hesitate to take advantage 
of technical pleas and by delays and otherwise to obstruct 
the course of procedure to the extent that very often there 
is an utter miscarriage of justice.” 

She was pleased with his frank confession of the faults 
of his profession, and because of this honesty was willing 
partially to forgive him for his severe strictures on the 
church. The two young people continued conversing in- 
terestedly for a considerable time, and when they finally 
separated, they did so, congratulating themselves on the 
new friendship they had formed. 

Undoubtedly, Victor Rodney had gained a new view- 
point of the mission and possibilities of the Temple. How- 
ever, because of his intense antagonism to the theories that 
had given it reality, he was hardly willing to admit that 
the institution had its legitimate place among other ac- 
credited institutions of the time. 


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CHAPTER III. 

JACK INVESTIGATES THE SERVERS. 

I 

John Trainor first conducted Jack Dalhart through Serv- 
ice Temple of Fellowship, showing him the reading rooms, 
the free theatre, the banquet hall, the skating rink, the bowl- 
ing alleys, the pool and billiard rooms, and the swimming 
pools, after which they took their way through the nurs- 
ery and children’s play rooms. 

“It’s a wonderful structure, serving a crying need in the 
community, I’m sure,” exclaimed Dalhart. 

They continued on a tour of the varied enterprises owned 
and controlled by the Servers; moving picture theatres, 
dance halls, grocery stores, drug stores, an immense de- 
partment store, and came at last to the Service Rescue Mis- 
sion. Finally they drove a few miles out into the country, 
where Dalhart grew enthusiastic over Service Dairy Farm. 

“It’s wonderful — -perfectly wonderful, Trainor. And it’s 
great to see the progressiveness, the efficiency, the bright 
cheerfulness that permeates everybody and everything con- 
nected with your enterprises.” 

“We’re the happiest set of people on earth,” declared 
John, proudly. “But to remain satisfied we must be con- 
tinually growing and expanding. Our workers are loyal 
and tireless, because they feel they’re part of a movement 
having limits short only of the kingdom of God on earth !” 

“The supreme goal for altruistic men !” exclaimed Dal- 
hart; “for unselfish workers will expend themselves in the 
effort to realize God’s kingdom here, rather than in the 
mere effort to fit themselves for ‘His kingdom in heaven !’ ” 

“The surest way for men to fit themselves for the king- 
dom of heaven,” declared John Trainor, “is to live their 
lives striving to bring something of that heaven to earth.” 
And he added, positively, “Mere theories of abstract justifi- 


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cation entitling men to heavenly bliss are substances as thin 
as air and will neither save nor satisfy the soul of any real 
man/’ 

Michael McGreal, the Irishman in charge of the dairy, 
passed them at this moment, going toward the creamery 
door, and John motioned to him to join them. After intro- 
ducing Mike to Dalhart, John said with great seriousness: 
“Here’s a man who is literally snatching- — from the very 
immediate heat of hell — the souls of more men in this city 
than any other Christian worker — and he’s no preacher, 
either.” 

Mike’s features were too rugged and red to have dis- 
closed a blush, even if he had accepted the force of his 
comrade’s compliment, but he quickly denied any claim to 
special merit by interrupting and insisting, with ready native 
wisdom. 

“Shure, Mister John, an’ the souls of my boys are never 
any nearer the red coals than are the souls of the more 
polite sinners; the boys I pick up are dirty dogs and just 
seem nearer the divil.” 

“Perhaps you’re right, Mike,” admitted John. “It’s won- 
derful how he gathers the down-and-outs who show all 
the coarser, dirtier signs of human degradation,” he con- 
tinued, turning to Dalhart as he did so. “He takes the 
whiskey soaks, moral perverts, and the thugs even, and 
brings them out here in the country, under the spreading 
blue arch of God’s great temple, close to nature and to na- 
ture’s creatures. Somehow, he sets them to work with 
songs in their hearts which leads, always to the inevitable 
end of a newer and better manhood.” 

“The boys regain their self-respect, Mister John,” put in 
Mike. “Shure, a man’s not a man while he’s without 
that.” 

“Quite right,” agreed John; “but the end is not there, for 
when a man regains his lost respect, he soon seeks the fur- 
ther respect of God. And these men here, when they’ve had 
their physical bodies rebuilt, their moral stamina strength- 


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ened, and their very souls restored, are, indeed, then fit 
subjects for spiritual conversion of the lasting kind. While 
I yield to no one in admiration for the sudden and wonder- 
ful conversions wrought in sinful men by the burning words 
of the eloquent and fiery evangels of God, yet, for sheer 
certainty, and for undoubted completness of regeneration, 
this manhood factory of Mike’s, working in conjunction 
with our rescue mission, has few superiors for turning out 
completely renovated, regenerated, and remade humanity.” 

“I see your work in all its aspects,” declared Dalhart; 
then he added, with a touch of irony in his tone : “Here you 
handle our by-products. We wreck men in our workshops 
and mills, driving them to drink, to immorality, and to deg- 
radation by the sheer incessant, grinding, monotonous, in- 
human functioning of our processes and, when we have left 
them in the gutter, vou pick them up as grist for a nobler 
mill.” 

“Men do not fall too low for us ever to feel that they are 
entirely without the fibre to make a better stuff,” said John. 
“And whether we lift them from the gutter— rumsoaked, 
smeared, and stinking with the odor of the sewer, or 
whether we gather them from the jails, depraved, thievish, 
and wicked, it is with the certainty that we have in our 
hands that which was created by God— and the Almighty 
never did create anything that was not a thing of beauty 
and usefulness in its place.” 

“You people consider, with the Sage of the Essays, that, 
‘Every man is a divinity in disguise,’ ” asserted Dalhart, 
“while Dad and I believed for ever so long, that every 
human being represents merely so many sordid units of 
labor power.” 

They left the dairy farm, and, having made their way 
across its fields and pastures, came to the gate of the Serv- 
ice Children’s Home, adjoining. Here John found his 
beautiful wife on the lawn surrounded by a bevy of little 
children, feeding a flock of snow white chickens. Mary 
was delighted to meet her husband’s new acquaintance, and 


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in a moment she gladly volunteered to show him over the 
place. 

“A little bit of heaven we have here,” she smiled, as she 
indicated with a sweep of her arm the angel children and 
the beauty of nature’s surroundings. Leading the way 
across the broad lawns and through flower gardens and 
fruit orchards, she brought the visitors to the beautiful 
structures serving as dormitories, school-buildings and hos- 
pitals. 

Dalhart was wonderfully impressed by all he saw, by the 
cleanliness and order and beauty wherever his eye rested. 
And quite naturally he soon reverted to the mood he had 
been in when he had had the conversation with John at the 
dairy farm. 

“Here,” he remarked, with great earnestness, “every 
smallest detail, and every largest aspect of the place, to- 
gether, I’m sure, with every thought and action of those 
connected with it, go to disclose and to exemplify the high 
valuation — the priceless valuation — which you people place 
on our human kind.” 

“But we are all children of God, are we not?” exclaimed 
Mary. 

“So we are,” cried Jack, “but how little recognition does 
this fact receive in the larger activities of men? Even the 
ministers of the gospel think so little of our manhood as 
to tell us that we are born children of the devil — and this lie 
pursues us through all opr days !” 

Jack contrasted the inhumane environment of men in the 
workshops of the world with the beauty and benevolence 
of the surroundings of the Home and the dairy farm. 

“It’s the mental attitude of men,” he reflected seriously, 
“rather than their heart attitude that is responsible for these 
contrasting conditions. In the workshops we set men to 
toiling as oxen toil, as machines work, as automatons op- 
erate, never dreaming that men cannot be brutalized into 
beasts or machines.” 


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“You speak as though from much experience,” suggested 
Mary, with deep interest. 

“Yes, from only too bitter experience,” he cried, “for Dad 
and I had full experience in setting men— yes — and women 
—to dumb-like toil without ever pausing to reflect whether 
they had anything of God in their make-up! We did not 
stop to ask if men are born of God, or, indeed, are born 
children of the devil ! For us, workmen were employes, la- 
borers, units of energy — simply this and nothing more. 
And why should we have considered our employes other- 
wise? Why should we have considered them in any other 
light? As brother-men? As God’s men? Did we hear 
stern commanding voices from the pulpit demanding it? 
Were the voices of statesmen seeking to compel it? Was 
the voice of society urging it? No. The only voices that 
reached us were dim and distant echoes from the sobbing, 
pleading, cursing agitators on the streets — agitators whose 
wretched cries were drowned in the thundering din and 
proud pulsation of our whirring machines !” 

“And yet, you altered your attitude, did you not? Some- 
thing changed, you?” suggested Mary, with increased in- 
terest. 

“The onward march of God through men was respon- 
sible for my change of attitude,” asserted Dalhart, with 
firm conviction. “New generations are born to stand on 
the shoulders of the passing ones to see things in a clearer 
light — and I was of a new generation.” 

“And your father?” said Mary. 

“Dad’s conversion came simply because he had a son 
born to him and because Dad respected himself too much 
to call his son a fool. When I acknowledged the utter ab- 
horrence of our business methods that was slowly grip- 
ping my mind, Dad did not disown and disinherit me as 
a brainless idiot, as many fathers do when their sons refuse 
longer to look upon the paternal estate as a noble inherit- 
ance to be accepted with holy reverence of its past. I told 
Dad our whole business was rotten to the core, and he 


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didn’t kick me out of the door. Nor did it break his heart, 
or turn him sour. Dad grew glum, of course, because he 
heard no insistent voices from within helping him to a bet- 
ter understanding of things : he heard voices only from the 
past.” 

“But he did understand — at last?” insisted Mary. 

“Dad steadfastly refused to believe that his son was alto- 
gether a fool,” declared Dalhart; “and he was willing and 
anxious at all times for a full discussion and investigation 
to see if there could not be some happy accommodation 
between his views and mine. This of course made me 
patient and equally anxious that we should continue work- 
ing in harmony together. The most I can say is, that there 
has been a close rapprochement in our views. Dad is a 
practical man; and his full conversion will come only 
through solid reasoning, based on premises that are plain 
and apparent to his mind. One little incident will serve 
to show how I have tried to strengthen my position. Dad 
is a great philanthropist, as many rich men are, and he gives 
more to charity and to the churches in our city, perhaps, 
than any other ten men.” 

“My father is also most generous with his charities,” in- 
terposed Mary, “and is becoming more so as he grows 
older. He doesn’t know what else to do with his wealth.” 

“Dad has always been free with his charities,” declared 
Dalhart, “and he feels that in this way he is discharging 
a large share of his religious obligations. But he had had 
little idea what actual end his charities were serving until 
I endeavored to show him. In order to make the demon- 
stration complete, I insisted that he accompany me on a 
round of our grimiest workshops — where there had never 
been any call for cleanliness, and where the walls were 
black and low and murky and the lighting poor. We had 
never given any thought to the preservation of the perfect 
eyesight of our workmen, in fact, we considered this to be 
no concern of ours; for when a worker’s vision became 
seriously impaired we employed a new man to take his 
14 


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place. We had no concern with our workmen other than 
that they daily should turn out the required average of 
products. If the capacity of some men was less than of 
others, it meant only that the driving power behind these 
men must be all the greater.” 

“It’s a cruel picture,” cried Mary, “but one not uncom- 
mon.” 

“I wanted Dad to see the thing in all its cruelty,” con- 
tinued Dalhart. “I begged him to try to assume a new 
mental attitude toward the long lines of workmen we saw 
standing before us behind machines performing monotonous 
functions, without change, through the long and dragging 
hours of the day. The faces of the men were streaked with 
grease and grime. They looked at us with furtive glances, 
and I knew what was in their hearts. ‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you 
wouldn’t tie your dog up all day, or daily hitch your horse 
to stand in the same spot throughout all the weeks in the 
year. And yet these men are tied hard and fast to these 
machines, without hope in their hearts for the future. These 
men have infinite capacity in their souls ; they are capable 
of communion with an infinite God, and they have it in 
their hearts to know the heights and depths of joy. But 
there is no joy in their treadmill monotony — or even hope 
of reward !’ ” 

“ ‘If the men do not like their work, they can quit/ in- 
sisted Dad with quiet temper. 

“‘No/ I said, ‘the men must have bread; and it is for 
bread that they work here like docile animals. But their 
hearts are hungry for a manna that cannot be gathered here. 
Their souls are starving for a sublimer portion of life. And 
their sluggish, furrowed features show that they have been 
driven to an unutterable weariness with their condition/ 

“ ‘But they have their hours of freedom and leisure/ he 
insisted. 

“ ‘No/ I said. ‘We will follow them from their work, 
now that they are ready to leave it, and will see how they 
go into an even deeper bondage than this/ And I led the 


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way behind the workers and presently showed him the same 
men standing before the bars of whiskey shops, not unlike 
they had been lined up in front of the clinking machines. 

“ ‘If the men choose such degradation, it’s no concern of 
ours K exploded Dad. 

“ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘it is. We are responsible for the condi- 
tions that drive these men here. For them to seek the 
stimulating effect of the strong liquors they find in these 
hell-holes comes simply as a reaction to the drudgery with 
which they have dragged out the day. For men to work at 
machines through long consecutive hours, with hands mov- 
ing rapidly, with nerves taut and eyes strained, could have 
no other effect than to leave them in the end with tired 
bodies and dulled senses; and nursing appetites demanding 
stimulants to arouse the spirits. And the men in our em- 
ploy whom we do not see in front of these bars are else- 
where seeking stimulants and sordid excitants.’ 

“ ‘They ought to be at home with their families,’ he re- 
torted. 

“‘Home?’ I cried in derision. ‘Surely, Dad,’ I insisted, 
‘the crowded hovels where these men slink at last to feed 
their stomachs and to rest their weary bones could in no 
sense be called homes. Crowded, reeking tenements, with- 
out privacy, or cleanliness, or comfort, or beauty, or music, 
or sunshine, have no attributes whatever of the sacred place 
we call home!’ 

“‘But why do the men choose to live like swine?’ ex- 
claimed Dad, ‘it’s no fault of ours.’ 

“ ‘They are forced to live as they do,’ I said, ‘because the 
wages we pay them do not permit of a higher standard of 
living.’ 

“ ‘But we could not afford a higher scale of wages and 
meet the competition in our products,’ he expostulated. 

“ ‘Oh, yes, we could, Dad,’ I insisted, ‘if you and I choose 
to claim somewhat less of the fineries and luxuries and 
wasteful extravagances than we do, and unselfishly to allot 
to our employes a larger and more equitable share of the 


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profits of our business, our workers could materially raise 
the standard of their living conditions. And, besides, Dad, 
this is only one phase of the matter. If we choose to change 
our attitude of mind and heart and to look upon the men 
toiling in our workshops as brother-men with bodies and 
souls of priceless value, there would be a thousand and .one 
thoughtful ways that, without loss of profit to ourselves, we 
could improve and humanize their conditions. It would 
make a wonderful difference, Dad, if we would expend the 
same large effort to perfect the manhood of the men work- 
ing for us as we expend seeking to perfect the intricate ma- 
chines which they use and direct.’ 

“ ‘Hell, boy,’ burst out Dad, with unaccustomed profan- 
ity, ‘you can pay the men every blasted dollar we claim as 
profits, if that is all that is bothering you !’ 

“ ‘But it’s not all, Dad,’ I said, with a big lump in my 
throat — because — 4ie’s the best Dad in the world ! ‘The 
problem of those who labor in our shops weighs on my 
conscience as only a small part of the problem of those who 
toil in the earth. You have given little thought to it, but 
the burden of those who labor is a heavy one to bear. And 
the crying shame and injustice of it is that those who toil 
in the production of the world’s goods are the last to be 
allowed their share of what they produce — and the share 
alloted to labor is the least proportionate share of all ! Men 
labor and sweat and bleed in the fields and mines and for- 
ests and mills to keep a constant stream of goods flowing 
into the marts of the world; but before the men who are 
doing the actual toiling and sweating and bleeding can claim 
more than the bare necessities of life out of the stream of 
goods they keep flowing, you and I Dad, and our class, 
must have not only our necessities and comforts, but even 
our luxuries and wasteful extravagancies ! And this is not 
all. Before those who are doing the toiling can yet claim 
a larger share of the goods they are producing, it has been 
so arranged by selfish and agile minded men that, all the 
petty merchants, and the bankers, brokers, lawyers, doc- 


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tors, politicians, and speculators and grafters of all kinds, 
must have their comforts and luxuries and extravagancies 
ahead of the toiling masses !" ” 

“And yet!” cried Mary, “how few men will pause in their 
mad pursuits to deliberate on these things !” 

“The men in the largest degree responsible for the con- 
ditions I have named,” asserted Dalhart, “have not the 
will to be convinced of the need of a change. They are 
sustained in their attitude by a false social philosophy. On 
the day of which I was speaking, Dad resisted me with all 
their stock arguments. Among other things he protested 
that he was willing to join with me in lifting the idlers off 
the back of labor and hanging them to lamp posts. But 
he insisted that the rest of my contention concerning the 
heavy burden of labor was based on a false premise. ‘You 
do not give/ he said, ‘to our merchants and bankers and 
others their proper share of credit for the necessary social 
functions they perform. Do not you think that by sweat- 
ing the blood of my mind as intensely as those in my em- 
ploy sweat blood of the body, I thereby perform a deserv- 
ing social function?" 

“ ‘So you do, Dad/ I replied, ‘but the wrong and selfish 
part of your thinking is that you seek to balance the service 
of your brain against the physical toil of too many other 
men. You think it perfectly just and fair for you to take 
as profits from your business for the single service of your 
brain scarcely a less sum than you allot in wages to full ten 
thousand other toiling men! And why? Forsooth, because 
your brain has builded the business ! Thus have men 
learned to exalt the brain at the expense of the body, while 
forgetting the cruelties necessary to such an exaltation ! 
But the day is coming, Dad/ I said,, ‘when men will place a 
higher value on the physical service of their fellows. You 
do not stop to reason that without such physical toil on 
the part of others your brain would be entirely worthless 
as a productive power. But if the men in your employ 
should suddenly lay down their tools, your brain immedi- 


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ately would cease to function in production. And, Dad,’ I 
continued, ‘if all the toilers of the earth should suddenly 
decide to cease toiling for the masters, choosing to feed their 
stomachs with worms grubbed from the earth, — well — the 
masters too would have to start grubbing! But the shame 
of civilization is that, the masters can. and do literally com- 
pel the continued toiling of their serfs. Oh, yes they do !’ I 
insisted. ‘A false social philosophy born of feudal parent- 
age — and that should have expired with the pangs that gave 
it birth — enables the master class to herd their fellows in 
masses and to make them sweat and bleed and toil for them ! 
Yes ! The earth is closed to the children of men and they 
could not, if they preferably choose, even grub worms for 
an existence ! They must turn elsewhere for bread — and 
the masters point to the workshops !’ 

“‘But there must be leaders — executives!’ insisted Dad. 

“ ‘Yes, leaders, but not masters !’ I cried, ‘and let us fer- 
vently pray for unselfish leadership ! For a day when the 
strong of mind and body shall find a greater glory in guid- 
ing their weaker brothers into paths of peace and plenty 
and pleasantness than they find in exlpoiting them for their 
own selfish content. But that day is not here, for we are 
bound with chains hard and fast to the past. Big brained 
men, like yourself. Dad,’ I reproached him, ‘do not accept 
your God-given capacity as a call to a greater service of 
your fellows. Not unlike royalty, claiming divine right, 
you exploit your power over your fellows simply for your 
own selfish purposes.’ 

“ ‘But the majority of our big men themselves come up 
from the ranks ; they are self-made men,’ he contended, 
stubbornly. , 

“ ‘Self-made?’ I said. ‘Yes, God knows the self is there! 
And self, like a black eclipse, hides their better, nobler na- 
tures. You exert a claim to being self-made, Dad,’ I ex- 
claimed, ‘as good a claim as anybody’s. And yet we can- 
not say you rose out of the earth — a titan, a superman — and 
with a prodigal self-strength set about unaided to hew and 


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carve and mold and build the great possessions that now 
are yours. On the contrary, you came into this world a 
helpless puling infant, but rightly claiming an inheritance 
to all the riches of the past. Society served efficiently to 
equip you, until at length you stood forth a man. In a 
little while you came here and gathered a few machines ; 
machines that, by no thought or stretch of the imagination, 
could be considered as the product of your brain or hands. 
Society, through the multiplicated workings of many units, 
was able to set these wonderful and complicated mechan- 
isms before your door. But you and your machines still 
were helpless without further aid. So, with the dreadful 
power that was yours, you summoned toilers to your shops. 
And then, not alone, but with the helpful toil, yea, and in- 
telligence, loyalty, courage and capacity of others, together 
with all the multiplied means and agencies which society 
placed at your disposal in the way of railroads, telegraphs, 
post-offices, banks, and other helps, you, in time, were able 
to dominate this wonderful plant. And now, you can climb 
its tallest tower and expand your chest and proclaim your- 
self a self-made man! Only, the blood and sweat and tears 
of other men cementing the masonry of your tower must 
not be removed, or you’d find yourself atop a pile of 
crumbling ruins !’ ” 

“How true!” cried Mary. “The men who boast of be- 
ing self-made forget only too often the claims of others for 
their success. My father is one who delights to point with 
pride to a self-made career; but he forgets the aid of a 
noble mother who sacrificed to the point of anguish for 
him; he forgets the sustaining strength of a gentle, patient 
wife holding up his hands during many trying hours of his 
early struggles ; and I’m afraid father has forgotten the 
kindly and timely aid of many a friend extended to him in 
periods of distress. As you hinted, self-made men, I fear 
are nearer being a class of selfish men !” 

“Self-made monarchs ! I call them,” cried Dalhart ; 
puffed up with a little power, and with base ingratitude, 


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they assume the attitude toward their fellows of petty 
tyrants. And this is what I told Dad ; that he exercised 
lordship over those in his employ as though he were an un- 
crowned monarch. He can grant or withhold princely 
favors. If he desired a jester, a court fool, he would have 
but to issue his command.” 

“Many of the wealthy have their court jesters,” cried 
Mary; and her face flushed with the remembrance of her 
own past, as she added : “The rich have their court circuses 
where you can find all the pomp and regalia of the old 
royalties.” 

“Yes!” cried Dalhart, “and they think it no concern of 
others ! They forget they are afforded their riotous revel- 
ries by the grace of the sweat and toil of other men !” 

* “But why do the working masses endure such condi- 
tions?” cried Mary. “Why do they permit the few to ex- 

• ercise lordly control of their destinies ?” 

“For the same reason,” exclaimed Dalhart, “that men 
endured the heels of the kingly tyrants of the past. The few 
in power have all the weapons of offense and defence. 
They hold all the citadels of property, and fill all the places 
of power. They are organized for instant action. While 
the great mobs of toilers are disorganized and without 
wealth or property or place or powerful leadership, and 
seem slow of arousing. But if the great masses are slow 
in stirring, slow to arouse, when they do awake — and they 
are awakening over the face of the earth — when they do 
stir, thrones topple ! ‘You autocrats of industry, think 
your places secure/ I told Dad, ‘but your subjects have iron 
in their souls ! As they have no voices in your connsels, you 
know little of what is in their minds and hearts. And in 
this respect you do not differ from the autocrats of feudal 
times. But if men were hungry for democracy then, they 
are hungrier for democracy now. They are not content 
to toil when they have no voice in fixing the conditions un- 
der which they must labor and live. And men now are de- 
manding, Dad!’ I cried, ‘that there shall be democracy in 


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217 


industry as there is democracy in the state. And the ques- 
tion that faces your class and mine is, shall the demands of 
the great laboring masses be met in an orderly way, or, 
must industry have its Bastile Day? Shall the change be 
worked out by sane and orderly processes ; even by radi- 
cal and revolutionary processes without hate and anger? 
Or, must there be the eruption of a “rougher, redder revo- 
lution ?’ ” 

“Bravo !” cried Mary. “I wish there were many sons 
to talk to their purblind fathers like that.” 

“Few fathers would listen to their sons with the same 
patience that Dad listened to me,” replied Dalhart; “it is 
only fair to say that Dad has a broad, open mind; and it 
never has been his custom, as it is that of so many of our 
leading men, indiscriminately to denounce all who seek to 
call attention to the iniquities and injustices among men. 
Dad is willing to be shown; and on this day after having 
left the vicinity of the whiskey shops and having had lunch- 
eon, Dad accompanied me to the “Star of Hope Mission,” 
to which he was a very large contributor. Here we saw 
many down-and-out men lounging around on the benches, 
many of whom were there to sober up, preferring the at- 
mosphere of the mission to a lock-up in the jail. And I was 
able to call his attention to the fact that many of these dis- 
reputable characters were men who at one time had been in 
our employ.” 

“ ‘But you do not think we are responsible for their land- 
ing here in this condition?’ he demanded. 

“ ‘Yes, Dad,’ I replied, ‘in a large measure we are. For 
if we leave out of consideration our past intimate relation- 
ship with the men, and view the matter in a broader aspect, 
you and I, as aggressive, influential, favored members of 
society, are responsible for the condition of these men to 
that large extent that we do not stand out courageously 
demanding that 'the maladjustment of our social machin- 
ery permitting these things shall have proper and immedi- 
ate readjustment.’” 


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“Good for you!” cried Mary; “that is the spirit of the 
Servers !” 

“I said : ‘Dad, it’s this way, you and I know that men do 
not remain static, but are in a state of continual progres- 
sion — that progression may be upward or downward. And 
the men in our employ, working under the conditions they 
do, haven’t got a show in this world for progress upwards ! 
It’s true that some of them oscillate in progression : some- 
times moving up, sometimes falling down — but on the 
whole their progression is downward ; and these men here 
have fallen to the very lowest depths possible. And the 
irony of it is, Dad,’ I cried, ‘that what we withheld in wages 
from these men, and what might have saved them from 
this condition, you are now contributing to this mission in 
an effort to rescue the unfortunate men from their degre- 
dation !’ ” 

“But the blind rich cannot see the anomaly of such a 
situation,” exclaimed Mary. “My father is one who will 
not see !” 

“Well, I didn’t rest with Dad, there,” went on Dalhart. 
“I insisted that he accompany me to an institution which, 
like your Home here, is a refuge for unfortunate children. 
It is called the “Faith Home,” and as I am one of its pa- 
trons, I had some acquaintance with its inmates. There- 
fore, I was able to point out that a number of the little un- 
fortunates we saw were children of men in our employ. We 
saw them in their little white beds, or in their nighties on 
bended knees, and with folded hands and lifted faces, pray- 
ing, perhaps, ‘Give us this day our daily bread !’ or, ‘Thy 
kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven !’ As we turned 
away, I said to Dad, ‘You asked me, just now, why our 
workmen do not go to their homes and families. I will tell 
you; they have no homes to which they can go. For the 
measly share of the wealth we set aside in the way of wages 
is not sufficient to permit our laboring men to acquire 
quarters commodious enough to house safely their families. 
Nor are they able to furnish food in sufficient quantity or 


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219 


quality to justify them in keeping their children at home. 
The result is, their children are supported here by your 
charity. The wealth which we withhold at the other end 
and the withholding of which forces them here, you furnish 
for the support of the children at this end in the name of so- 
called charity. For God’s sake, Dad !’ I cried, ‘let us stop 
these cruelties, masquerading as charity, and turn over to 
our workmen that just portion of our profits which is their 
due.’ ” 

“Oh, I’m sure your father could not have withstood such 
a noble appeal !” cried Mary. 

“Dad has no desire to accumulate further wealth,” re- 
plied Dalhart, proudly, “and as he is beginning to see things 
in a light that he never had seen them in before, we are 
slowly approaching a nearer accord in our views of purely 
social questions.” 

John Trainor had joined them during the earlier part of 
their conversation and had been an interested listener to 
the young man’s recital. As he was very anxious that Dal- 
hart should have further acquaintance with the activities 
of the Servers before the close of the day, he now insisted 
that his visitor return with him to the city. 


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CHAPTER IV. 

JACK JOINS THE SERVERS. 

I 

When John and his visitor reached the city, the former 
remarked, as he stopped his car in front of the quarters 
of the Service Evening Journal : “You have seen how, at 
the dairy farm and the children’s home, we came into inti- 
mate, personal contact with those whom we are seeking to 
serve; and now I want you to have acquaintance with how 
we come into contact with, you might say, the social minds 
of our people.” 

John led the way into the Journal building, just in time 
to catch the editor of the paper, who was preparing to rush 
away. But John detained his comrade long enough to in- 
troduce Dalhart. 

“I want you to meet Mr. Bainbridge, Mr. Dalhart,” he 
exclaimed; “Milton is the power behind our paper.” 

Bainbridge expressed his pleasure at the opportunity of 
meeting young Dalhart, but found it necessary immediately 
to excuse himself; and John was left to lead the visitor over 
the wonderful newspaper plant. 

“This paper,” he declared, “supported by the wealth we 
derive from our oil wells, has been the main source of our 
power and influence in the community. We find that 
when we are able to get the facts the truth — unvarnished 
and uncolored — before the people, they invariably will fol- 
low the truth. But its’ difficult, very difficult,” he smiled, 
“to get the unvarnished truth before the populace. There is 
an anti-Christ opposed to every good cause, and by deceit, 
denial, misrepresentation, sophistry and lying, the people 
are often misled in spite of their earnest search for the 
truth.” 

“Nevertheless, from all reports, you’ve succeded in bring- 
ing about many reforms in this city.” 

“So we have,” affirmed John; “through the power of 




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our paper and the influence of our other activities we’ve 
succeeded in accomplishing many things. In the way of 
negative accomplishments we’ve buried John Barleycorn; 
we’ve practically eliminated commercialized vice from the 
city. The gambling hells and crooked poolrooms are closed, 
and we’ve done away with the cheaper dance halls and 
variety shows. In the way of more constructive reform, 
we’ve appreciatively raised the standard of the moving pic- 
ture houses and dance halls; and have greatly quickened 
the social conscience of our people, and in many different 
ways have exercised an influence on the social life of the 
city that has shown notable results in the way of higher 
individual and collective morality. And in business affairs, 
we’ve set a standard of ethics that is affecting the whole 
commercial life of our city for the better.” 

“And your capacity and field for further constructive 
work is unlimited,” exclaimed Dalhart, in admiration, as 
they left the offices of the paper. 

“All we need is competent leadership,” asserted John. 

“But you’ve been a wonderful leader !” 

“ ‘Have been,’ is correct,” replied John Trainor, in a tone 
of regret. “One must have physical, as well as intellectual 
capacity for leadership, you know; and as you see, I’m 
almost a physical wreck — the result of an old injury and 
a recent fall. The doctors extend me hope of ultimate re- 
covery if, for a time, I make the recuperation of my health 
my only consideration. Still, it’s hard to drop out when 
the battle is moving forward — even when one knows it’s the 
only chance to be of future service.” 

“It is hard, Trainor; it’s devilish hard to sit on the side 
lines and watch the other fellows play the game— which 
proves that the spirit is stronger than the flesh. And your 
spirit will continue to dominate and enthuse the remarkable 
team you’ve captained, in spite of your being out of the 
actual fray. For that’s what you have, a wonderful team 
of men and women playing the game of life ; and playing 


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it with a zest that makes one wish himself worthy of join- 
ing wdth you !” 

“And what makes you think you’re not worthy?” ex- 
claimed John. 

“To begin with, I haven’t the Christian faith, Trainor, that 
I see shining in the faces of your comrades. I’m too much 
of the world — worldly.” 

“But we haven’t sprouted wings as yet,” asserted John, 
smiling, “and we’ve no thought just now, of deserting this 
terrestial sphere.” 

“No; but what you’re doing is being done in the name 
of religion; and I can’t even say that I have a religion,” ex- 
plained Dalhart, half apologetically. 

“Of course, you have a religion,” suggested John, search- 
ing the other’s clear, frank eyes, “but maybe you haven’t 
been able exactly to frame your beliefs into particular 
phrases or creeds.” 

“That’s just it; I’ve tried to give some sort of shape and 
form to my beliefs, but failing utterly in that, I’ve con- 
cluded I haven’t any to which to give shape and form.” 

“But you’ve expressed your religion to me, in a dozen 
ways already,” protested John ; “and if I were Saint Peter 
at the gate, I’d pass you in without further parley.” 

“You would, but I fear the preachers wouldn’t,” laughed 
young Dalhart; “and from all accounts, the preachers hold 
the keys to the straight and narrow gate.” 

“The Master holds the keys,” declared John reverently. 

“But all that has little meaning to one who does not 
sense religion as any part of — reality,” protested the young 
man, hopelessly. 

“Religion is no part of reality,” exclaimed John. “Re- 
ligion is a sublime trancendentalism which lifts one out of 
the sordid realities; it is intuitive, and you must not seek 
for it through the senses. The effects, the fruits of re- 
ligion, may be sensed as realities — for instance, in the an- 
imal sacrifices and fetish worship of primitive peoples, or 


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223 


in the works of love, charity, mercy, and brotherhood of 
Christians.” 

“The last phase is the one that interests me !” cried Dal- 
hart, quickly. “I want to spend my life demonstrating the 
practical brotherhood of man !” 

“Which would be demonstrating the practical fatherhood 
of God !” exclaimed John, earnestly, and into his mind 
crept loving thoughts of the One who “trod the dusty fields 
of Syria, who sailed the blue waters of Galilee,” calling all 
men His brothers, teaching and preaching the fatherhood 
of God and the brotherhood of man ! 

“You’ll do Dalhart,” he exclaimed. “We need your 
kind! If you want to do something really big for mankind, 
we have a working organization that will enable you to 
function.” 

“But, Trainor, I’m a bundle of dynamite when I get 
started; aren’t you afraid I’d carry your movement off on 
a tangent? It’s the social, th£ economic needs of men 
that press on my conscience, rather than their religious 
needs.” 

“I have no fear of your taking us off on a tangent,” de- 
clared John, with assurance. “Our movement was organ- 
ized to meet the multiple needs of men, and our membership 
includes a conglomeration of preachers, politicians, and 
practical business men — all of whom, however, believe in 
the practical brotherhood of man!” 

“That’s certainly a common working basis,” cried Dal- 
hart, enthusiastically, “and I don’t see why I won’t fit in !” 

“You will fit in,” urged John, “and instead of your tak- 
ing us off on a tangent, I predict our preachers will clear 
your vision and point you to the true Source of the broth- 
therhood doctrine — to Jesus Christ, Son of God and Sav- 
iour of Men!” 

ii 

It was some days later that Jack Dalhart was formally 
enrolled as one of the Servers. First, it had been necessary 
for him to make a hurried trip home to arrange with his 


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father for the transfer of the major portion of his business 
responsibilities to other shoulders. When he returned, he 
was introduced by John Trainor to his future co-workers at 
a meeting called for that purpose. And on the next day, 
Dalhart reported the outcome of his reception to the young 
woman at the Temple, where he found her again. 

“It was an assemblage that would have fired the soul 
of any man/' he declared. “Some three hundred men and 
women greeted me, extending a royal welcome. They’re 
folks of a big calibre, and folks with a purpose that shines 
resplendent in their strong, intelligent countenances, and 
in their confident aggressive personalities. They’ve a work 
to do — and they intend doing it — you don’t have to guess 
that. As crusaders, I expected to find them a little less 
matter-of-fact; but one does not have to mingle with them 
long before discovering the spirit which animates them. 
While they are full of the blood and warmth of life, yet, 
they are full, too, of its exalted purpose; and while their 
lives are set to serve this nobler end, their service will be 
methodical, practical, and following a plan and program. 
They’ve pledged their lives, their hopes, and all they have 
to the propagation, the service, and the practical realiza- 
tion of God’s kingdom on earth. And with this noble end 
and noble hope guiding them, their lives are shining clear 
and bright with the keen, true joy of living. If the monks 
out of the early monasteries could have been at the meet- 
ing last night, they would have exclaimed, ‘Alas ! we have 
lived in vain !’ For there are no ascetics among the Servers. 
They’ve groomed themselves to serve a strenuous cause; 
and their healthy, happy countenances stamp them as being 
fit. They’re such a crowd as I’d love to enter hell with to 
charge the devil and his hosts ! I see great days ahead, and 
tremendous doings in this state !” 

“Have you a program already formed?” she asked, with 
excited interest. 

“Why, yes, I have,” he exclaimed ; “though not on paper. 
Certain things needing to be done have burned themselves 


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deep into my brain; and I shall set about to do them as 
Dad and I would set about to build a new branch of our 
business. Of course, no one man, or single set of men, can, 
at once, solve all the practical difficulties and the ‘tangle 
of ways and means' which always obstructs the pathway of 
man’s progress toward social betterment. But everything 
has a beginning and a final solution, and we shall make the 
start.” 

“What I mean,” she insisted, “have you definite plans for 
right noW?” 

“Why, yes,” he laughed, “but I was telling you the other, 
so you’d not think we were all ready immediately to ar- 
range the earth for the ushering in of the dawn of the per- 
fect social day.” 

“I know,” she laughed — the first laugh he had seen to 
light her lovely face, and it gave him joy. “I know you 
do not expect immediately to translate us all into heaven, nor 
to bring heaven to earth; but can’t you tell me what steps 
you intend taking right now to materialize your dream?” 

“I’m afraid it would tire you to hear of all our plans,” he 
responded, keenly pleased with her frank womanly interest, 
“but I’ll be delighted to discuss our plans with you as we 
progress. For the immediate present we’ve a fight on here 
that will consume most of our energies. It has to do with 
the proposed acquisition by the city of its transportation fa- 
cilities — which are now owned by outside interests.” 

“But what have the Servers to do with such things?” 

“It’s all a part of our program,” he explained. “You 
see, we’re setting out in a practical way to realize God’s 
kingdom on earth, and we have to do with practical things.” 

“But what have transportation facilities to do with God’s 
kingdom ?” 

“They have much to do with it,” he replied, patient with 
her unawakened understanding. “Men’s daily bread, their 
homes, their lives, their very souls, are often so inextricably 
interwoven with the trolleys, the steel rails and the multi- 
form management of transportation systems, that the one 
15 


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cannot be effectively considered without considering the 
other.” 

“But why hasn’t our city always owned its transporta- 
tion facilities?” she asked. 

“Because the good people of the city have not cared,” he 
said. “My own candid opinion is that the really good folks 
in this world have had their minds so all-fired filled with 
the idea of getting their poor souls into high-heaven that 
they’ve let the devil about have his own way in most in- 
stances down here — and he’s mixed things in an awful 
mess !” 


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227 


CHAPTER V. 

OLD GLORY OR THE RED FLAG? 

I 

Parting with the young woman, Jack Dalhart hastened 
to the office of his friend, Victor Rodney, with the news 
that he had come to reside in the city indefinitely. 

“Eve joined the Servers, Rod, and I expect to throw my 
whole energy into reform work.” 

Victor was not surprised by his friend's announcement, 
but his disappointment was none the less keen, and he ut- 
tered his reproach in a bitter tone. 

“I can hardly believe it Dal; it’s hard to think of the 
good old Jack of the gridiron days and the town-painting 
frolics now turned into a soft sentimentalist!” 

“But I tried the other way,” protested Dalhart, unruf- 
fled. “Like so many youths, I graduated direct from the 
inspiring freedom of college, and the wild keen joy of 
the campus, straight into the cold and unrelenting compe- 
tition of commercial life. Ideals I had formed at college 
were shattered ; tactics that would have brought reproach 
and dishonor on the football field, I found brought applause 
and approval in the business world. Then, like others, I 
deliberately set about to climb to what the world calls suc- 
cess ! Dad and I, together, fought our way. We have 
moved relentlessly on; crushing a competitor here, clawing 
another into submission there; bludgeoning another into 
bankruptcy, leaving a trail of dishonor, perhaps death, else- 
where. With the power that was ours, we drove men, 
women and children to their work. 

“We builded our business to success, but builded it on 
the broken fortunes of others; builded it on the abandoned 
hopes of the men who weave and spin and sow, but who 
reap not the fruits of their toil ; builded it on the bones of 
babies dropped prematurely from the wombs of work-worn 
and wasted mothers ; builded it on the stained virtue of 


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maidens pawned to purchase dainties our wages would not 
permit. But I’ve turned from the nightmare of it all, Rod ; 
and, God knows, I wish other youths might escape the hell 
I went through! If they could only plunge direct from 
the freedom and inspiration of academic life straight into 
the glory of the unselfish service of God and humanity !” 

“The red corpuscles * in the blood of men would turn 
white !” cried Rodney, scornfully, “and the ambition that 
fires their souls would shrivel, and the progress of the world 
would stop, if all men were to turn to the sickening senti- 
mentalism of the Servers, the Salvationists, and the So- 
cialists !” 

“Never has the red blood throbbed through my system 
with greater intensity than now !” protested Dalhart vehem- 
ently ; “never has ambition so fired my soul ! But it’s the 
ambition to serve rather than to enslave my weaker broth- 
ers.” 

“We must serve ourselves,” cried Rodney; “the ruling 
instinct of man is self-service and self-preservation.” 

“The ruling instinct of the jungle also is self-preserva- 
tion/ cried Jack, scornfully; “it’s the oldest reason in the 
world for man’s inhumanity to man. And the philosophy 
of it is repulsive! No! Cowards save their own miserable 
carcasses first, but brave men step aside for the weaker !” 

“Your heroics do well for heroic occasions, Dal, but in 
the common run of everyday existence the men who do not 
look out for number one soon are left behind.” 

“I know what you mean, Rod; the laws of the jungle 
still are the laws of men in their everyday dealings with 
one another. We’ve not learned that if we help to save and 
to serve our brothers, our brothers in turn will help to save 
and to serve us. But a change is coming.” 

“It will come only when human nature is changed,” 
scoffed Rodney. 

“Changing the ways of the jungle alters the ways of the 
beasts inhabiting it,” asserted Dalhart. 

“The gospel of regeneration has been thundered in the 




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ears of men for two thousand years, and still they continue 
to destroy one another. Jack!” 

“Yes, we’ve endeavored to improve the natures of men 
without changing the ways of the social jungle,” exclaimed 
Dalharr. “The gospel of individual regeneration has been 
unaccompanied by the gospel of social regeneration. We’ve 
been trying to tame the cub in the midst of the howling 
den !” 

“And now you’d prescribe socialism?” 

The sneering tone cut Jack Dalhart to the quick, but he 
replied evenly: “Call it what you will, Rod. There was 
a time when I hesitated to class myself as a socialist because 
of the opprobrium popularly attaching to the term; but if 
I’m a socialist in principle, I’ve no desire to be called other 
than a socialist in name. But if you cared to investigate, 
you’d find there are many theories of socialism.” 

“I’m not interested in any of them,” retorted Rodney, 
with a gesture of repudiation; “the constitutional govern- 
ment of Washington and Hamilton and Jackson is quite 
good.enough for me.” 

“Yes,” warned Jack, hotly, “the very laissez faire atti- 
tude of men of your class and mine will be the culminating 
factor bringing on the revolution that will rend that gov- 
ernment asunder ! Where one man before the revolution 
of the sixties dared to denounce our sacred constitution as 
‘an agreement with Death and a covenant with Hell,’ now 
there are a thousand men holding it in hardly less rever- 
ence !” 

“Is that your own feeling toward it, Dal?” demanded 
Rodney fiercely. 

“I have a. firm conviction that our present constitution 
has outlived its usefulness,” declared Dalhart. “It has 
served its day well and I would lay it aside reverently be- 
fore the terrorists have torn it to tatters.” 

“Oh, nonsense, you’re seeing red without reason.” 

“Seeing red without reason — Hell !” burst out Dalhart. 
“Yes, I see crimson red when sane men like yourself 


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presist in prating about your sacred constitution while sit- 
ting on the crust of a volcano ! What do the red socialists 
care about an instrument framed to fit the needs of a 
hundred and fifty years ago? What do the laboring men 
care about a document always interpreted and construed 
to forge their chains more securely? Can’t you read the 
ominous signs of the times, Rod? Can’t you grasp the 
dire significance of the growing frequency and ever in- 
creasing magnitude and intense bitterness of strikes and 
labor protests? When those four-hundred thousand rail- 
way operatives some time ago made their demands on the 
small company of railway operators, and those demands 
were refused, don’t you realize the fierce conflict that was 
threatened? If the battle had indeed ensued, and the lines 
had been drawn close, and if all other union men with their 
relatives and sympathizers had joined their brothers — as 
they might have done — there would have been ten million 
human beings with their backs to the wall determined to 
have justice or die! Do you think the anarchists, the I. 
W. W.’s, the terrorists of all breeds, would not have ‘joined 
the strife? Yea, and our boasted house of freedom would 
have been turned into a — shambles ! Seeing red, am I ? 
Yes, I see red, and the white and blue stripes of a flag that 
I love dearer than life; and it’s because of a passionate 
love for that banner that I now warn men like yourself 
that already you stand confronted with your choice of 
Social Justice and a brighter day under Old Glory, or re- 
volution, anarchy and chaos under the red flag!” 

ii. 

The two friends presently left off the heat of argument, 
and Jack suggested that they go to take a plunge in the 
natatorium at Service Temple. Victor’s antipathy for the 
Temple had lessened considerably since his last visit and 
he now agreed with avidity to the suggestion. He was not 
disappointed in his lively hope of again finding there the 
interesting young woman. Courtney Chester and her friend 


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231 


unintentionally intercepted him and Jack almost im- 
mediately on their entrance. 

Introductions were quickly exchanged, and the quartet 
of young people stood talking. As they stood looking into 
one another’s eyes, measuring one another’s thoughts, they 
held no prescience of how interwoven were their fates, nor 
of how intermingled would be the parts they would play in 
the dramas of each other’s lives. 

And yet, with the keen intuition of their sex, the women 
already seemed to sense a stir within themselves of an in- 
terest in the men deeper than people display as an 
evidence of good manners. And each of the men, with 
the excess ego of his sex, already seemed to be endeavoring 
to excite, and to appropriate to himself, a particular in- 
terest on the part of the young women. 

It was this spirit of conquest, perhaps, that shortly led 
Victor Rodney to propose to Margaret Innington that she 
conduct him on a tour of the Temple — but whether the 
attempted conquest was to be of the fair Margaret, through 
appropriating to himself her exclusive company, or, in- 
directly ‘attempting that of the darker Courtney by arous- 
ing within her that certain spirit and weakness which is 
common to all humanity, only an analysis of motives would 
disclose. Courtney Chester w'as, thus presently, left in Jack 
Dalhart’s company. 

“Why is it ?” he asked abruptly, as soon as they had seated 
themselves, “that you’re so critical of the Servers?” 

“And what makes you think I’m critical of the Servers?” 

“From some remarks made by your friend Miss Inning- 
ton.” 

“I advised Margaret not to join the Servers and not to 
throw herself away in any such manner.” she retorted; 
“Margaret can take her place in our highest social circle 
if she will.” 

“And throw herself away indeed !” exclaimed Dalhart 
bitterly. “Then she’d have no end of pink teas, informal 
dances, tete-a-tetes, and all the other fol-de-rol and foolish- 


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ness of the women who have no thought other than that 
of trying to excel one another in vain display !” 

Courtney Chester greeted this outburst with a cool lift 
of the eyebrows as she replied : “And why do you ex- 
hibit such an unusual interest in the matter ?” 

“I am interested as a new friend of Miss Innington’s 
and as one of the Servers,” he replied. “Besides, it dis- 
turbs me greatly when the daughter of a minister advises 
another against joining our organization.” 

“How do you know that I’m the daughter of a minister?” 
she asked. 

“I heard your father’s sermon Sunday night,” he replied, 
evasively. 

“Oh, I haven’t any special antipathy for the Servers,” 
she volunteered, “other than a deep seated” — she hesitated 
to use the word — “repugnance for all movements that are 
merely disturbing.” 

“You have a very narrow conception of our movement 
if you think our activities will be merely disturbing,” he 
asserted strongly; “our work will be nothing if not con- 
structive.” 

“But the same work is being done by other organizations 
in ways that are not quite so — unusual.” 

“You’ve now designated our movement as unusual and 
disturbing,” he said; “in what other way does it fail to 
meet your approval?” 

“Your movement is based on a theory of morality as 
opposed to religion,” she asserted; “you think to make 
people moral merely by changing their condition- — and that 
morality is all-sufficient.” 

“And to that extent vou think we’re antagonistic to re- 
ligion?” 

“Decidedly so,” she insisted. 

“Then I must remove such a false impression from your 
mind at once,” he exclaimed. “While it is true that the 
larger share of our efforts will be devoted to improving 
the physical conditions of men, and while we. sincerely be- 


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233 


lieve that improved physical conditions will result in im- 
proved moral conditions, still, you must not think that we 
do not recognize that man has an attribute higher even 
than morality. If we seemingly do not show sufficient con- 
cern for the spiritual need of men, it is because we are 
looking to the church to minister to that all-important 
human need. That is supposed to be its function. Can 
you quarrel with us in this?” 

“No,” she replied, “but I do think that your over-em- 
phasis of the importance of environment, and of morality, 
in shaping the characters of men has a tendency to cause 
a neglect of religion.” 

“And I protest,” he retorted, “that if there can be an 
over-emphasis of the importance of environment and mor- 
ality, and if there is such an over-emphasis* it has been 
forced on us by the neglect of the Christian ministry fully 
to appreciate and proclaim the positive influence of physical 
condition and morality upon the welfare of men. ‘If there 
is a gulf to-day between religion and morality, that gulf 
has been fixed by the church itself.’ The policy and practice 
of Christian preachers to proclaim over and over again the 
‘all-sufficiency of the doctrine of the atonement to save men 
from their sins, simply puts a premium on unmorality and 
unrighteousness.’ The gulf that has been fixed is as wide 
now as it was in the days before Luther launched his Re- 
formation. The medieval pontiffs in Rome, ‘calling them- 
selves Vice-regents of God,’ wallowed in the mire of im- 
morality while believing that they already were absolved 
from their sinfulness because Christ had died on Calvary. 
And to-day, ministers, officials, and laymen of the church, 
pursue their selfish existences, too often unmindful of the 
human misery around them, frequently themselves the 
chief oppressors of their brothers, and all the while they 
do so with the easy consciousness that their faith in Christ’s 
vicarious suffering will save them !” 

“Don’t you believe in the doctrine of the atonement?” 

“As preached in the pulpits to-day, no!” he exclaimed 


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emphatically. “Shall I believe that the condemned murder- 
er, thief and rapist who confesses in his final agonies a 
faith in the death agonies of the Christ is thereby redeemed 
to immortal bliss, while the upright man of morality who 
dies ere he learns the lesson of the atonement is destined 
to suffer eternal hell-fire? And yet, such a vicious inter- 
pretation of the scene enacted in the Garden of Gethse- 
mane is generally being proclaimed in the pulpits to-day ! 
Need we wonder at the moral inertia of men?” 

“If you’re so critical of our church,” she exclaimed re- 
sentfully, “can you expect me to be any the less critical of 
your organization?” 

“You must not judge our organization solely by my sen- 
timents,” he protested. “I’m simply expressing my indi- 
vidual views. We make no attempt to change the religious 
beliefs of our members. Many of the Servers, perhaps the 
most of them, are as consistent church members as your- 
self. But they have accepted literally and practically their 
Master’s admonition that as they do, or neglect to do unto 
the least, they will do or neglect to do unto Him !” 

“But personally you believe,” she charged, “in the all- 
sufficiency of the Service of Man?” 

“No,” he protested, “I believe in both the service of Man. 
and the service of God!” 

“Do you believe in the triune God?” 

“Now you’re mixing things,” he admonished ; “you’re 
beginning to draw down the dark curtain of doctrine and 
to shut out my simple belief in a God.” 

“Then what is your concept of God?” she inquired 
earnestly. 

“I have no fixed conception of God,” he said, “and I 
hope I won’t have. I want to have a growing conception 
of God. Just now I love to think of God as the all-creating 
father-God, creator of men through their earthly fathers. 
But I cannot think of my heavenly Father as exercising 
any more restraint over me than does my father in the 
flesh. Yet, I feel that I have His immeasurable love and 




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235 


solicitude and guidance. I have His guidance in the 
primal instincts planted within me ; and in the wonderful 
signs and laws He has established in nature all around me. 
I believe in the existence of sin; but do not believe that God 
had any voluntary part in its creation. The absolute and 
illogical contradiction of an all-loving, omnipotent God, and 
a sin-creating and sin-permitting God, is impossible for me 
to believe. And it does not satisfy me in the least when 
some priest or preacher tries to explain the contradiction 
by solemnly announcing that the ways of God are mysterious 
and beyond understanding, but they are working for our 
ultimate good. I cannot stand hog-tied with such a preach- 
ment while sin runs rampant around me. I believe that 
God is combatting sin and the fruits of sin with all his 
God-power, and that it is my filial duty 'to fight sin and 
disease, misery and poverty, with all my man power !” 

She was thrilled with the earnestness, of his protesta- 
tions; but as a faithful daughter of the church, and as one 
thoroughly schooled in intellectual orthodoxy, she searched 
further into his religious concepts. 

“Do you believe in the divinity of Christ?” she asked 
after a moment. 

“I do not know.” 

“But you cannot hope,” she cried, “for the salvation of 
vour soul unless you believe in the divinity of the Son of 

God!” 

“But how can I believe what I do not believe?” he de- 
manded, helplessly. “How can I force myself deliberately 
to believe what I have not sufficient evidence to believe? 
It is out of stuff such as that that hypocrites are made! T 
believe in the immortal principles of Christ ! I believe th^y 
are principles such as God Himself might have enunciated. 
And Td rather,” he added defiantly, “I’d rather risk the 
salvation of my soul in the practice of Christ’s principles 
than in a mere abstract belief in His divinity !” 

The argument continued to wage between them — the age- 
old conflict between a dogmatist with incontestible doc- 


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trines, and a free-thinker, but a doer of the word, daring 
to proclaim his doubts. Courtney Chester was a match for 
most any man on theological ground ; but she made little 
headway with Jack Dalhart, for that young man was 
schooled in handling hard and unyielding facts, and with 
these he persisted in meeting her theories. At length he 
exclaimed with finality : 

“To love God with heart, soul, and mind, and one’s 
neighbor as one’s self — on this hangs all the law and the 
prophets !” 

“Aye, so the church teaches,” she retorted. 

“But the church veils its teachings with many mysteries, 
rites, ceremonies, creeds and doctrines,” he insisted, “to 
the utter confusion of men ! It seems perfectly satisfied to 
have its adherents take the symbol, instead of the thing 
symbolized.” 

“Are you a church member?” she asked. 

“No,” he replied, “but I’m a regular attendant.” 

“I should think that regular attendance would lead to 
membership.” 

“On the contrary,” he protested, “sometimes it leads 
quite the other way. You see, I attend church promiscu- 
ously; and the doctrines I hear preached are so varied and 
contradictory, I don’t think I ever will adopt those of any 
particular denomination for my own.” 

“If all men were like you the church soon would cease 
to exist.” 

“Fortunately,” he smiled, “all men are not like myself. 
Men are different; therefore, we have numerous denomina- 
tions and many doctrines.” 

“I should think, Mr. Dalhart,” she admonished, “that one 
of your age and intelligence would have sought by now to 
have fixed some definite religious belief.” 

“So I have sought,” he insisted. “I’ve earnestly tried 
to give some definite shape and form to my religious be- 
liefs; but all my efforts have been futile. Trinitarian and 
Unitarian, baptismal regeneration, predestination, atone- 


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237 


ment, justification, sanctification, transubstantiation, 
original sin, eternal damnation, redemption, Pelagianism, 
Socinianism, Arminianism, Arianism, Calvin, Luther, Wes- 
ley — dogmas and doctrines, dogmatists and doctrinares — I 
have waded with them all through them all. and still, I 
stand confused and worse confounded. I tried to pick and 
choose out of the heterogenous mass, but the attempt was 
hopeless. Nor will I consent for some contentious priest to 
choose my doctrines for me, and to be told that I must 
believe those doctrines or else be utterly and forever damned 
to eternal hell-fire !” 

“And why?” he added vehemently with a sudden illumi- 
nating thought, “should we stand here in idle disputation 
concerning the Unknowable things, when the Master Build- 
er of the Universe is in such sore need of workmen to 
hammer and shape the Knowable Things into form worthy 
of the Grand Temple of All Time?” 

Notwithstanding their intensely conflicting views, when 
they parted company, presently, her dark eyes softened, and 
his ruddy face broke into smiles. 

“I’m delighted to have met you,” he exclaimed, “and I 
hope to have the privilege of seeing you often !” 

Courtney Chester was not given to profusive remarks, 
but she made him understand that she, too, was equally 
pleased. 

The minister’s daughter subsequently was led to ponder 
over the fact that both of the virile, intellectual, free-think- 
ing young men whom she so recently had met had been 
extremely severe in their strictures of the church, and of 
the religion of which she was so stout a defender. 

Naturally, too, she was led to set the two men over in 
her mind, the one against the other, in the effort to deter- 
mine which held for her the greatest present interest.. She 
finally had to conclude that the friendship of both was 
worthy of being further cultivated. 


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CHAPTER VI. 

MODELTOWN 

I. 

The Servers, under the leadership of John Trainor had 
taken little active part, as an organization, in municipal 
politics. Their evening paper, Service Journal, however, 
had led many fights which had resulted in numerous re- 
forms in the city. While John Trainor had devoted his 
efforts mainly toward establishing the organization on a 
firm financial basis, the editor of the Journal had applied 
his energies, and the power and influence of the paper to- 
ward stamping out the most flagrant of the large scale 
evils in the city, and toward securing certain changes in 
the municipal government. Open gambling and licensed 
prostitution had been effectively restrained, and the prohibi- 
tion of the liquor traffic had been secured, only after strenu- 
ous campaigns. Municipal ownership of the city’s gas, 
electric light and water facilities also had been effected 
after long drawn out conflicts. Possibly the most important 
victory of all had been won when the adoption of a charter 
amendment had been secured, changing the form of the 
city government from aldermanic to commission. 

The latter change, however, was not to go into effect 
for several months yet, and, in the meantime, the corpora- 
tion owning the street railway system was making a hard 
fight to induce the city council to grant it a renewal of its 
franchise for a new term of twenty years. The progressive 
forces in the city were striving to prevent this — in the be- 
lief that when the change in the form of government finally 
was effected it would be an easy matter to bring about 
municipal ownership of the railway system. 

The battle had waged before the city council for several 
meetings before Jack Dalhart’s appearance as one of the 
leaders of the progressives opposing the. renewal of th,e 
franchise. His first unpleasant surprise when he entered 


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239 


the council chamber was to recognize his friend Rodney 
among the coterie of lawyers appearing for the railway 
corporation. And, sometime later, Jack was further sur : 
prised when Victor made an impassioned, and altogether 
effective, plea on behalf of his client. Jack knew his friend 
was a talented practicioner, but he had not given him credit 
for the large-sized capacity he now displayed. After the 
adjournment of the meeting, it was with sincere admira- 
tion, in spite of their opposing attitudes, that he exclaimed : 

“Rod. old man, you’d have me trembling in my boots if 
I did not know already that we have the noses of the 
councilmen counted against you !” 

Victor ignored the compliment and also the confident 
assertion, and replied heatedly, “Why is it, Dal, that you 
fellows continue in your fanatical efforts to unsettle all 
decent business conditions ? Don’t you know that the 
present Street Railway Corporation, with its large capital- 
ization, its unlimited purchasing powers, its skilled en- 
gineers, and its nation wide activities, can provide our city 
with far more efficient transportation facilities than we 
ever could hope to have under a politically controlled 
management ?” 

“It may be that they could, Rod; but the history is, and 
the trouble is, they don’t! And why should they when 
their one highest incentive is not the public service, but 
private profit? What I can’t understand, Rod, is why 
otherwise good citizens like yourself still persist in your 
efforts to stem the tide of all social and political progress. 
The movement towards governmental ownership of public 
utilities, for instance, is sweeping forward irresistibly; and 
the efforts of men like yourself to stay it is as futile as if 
you were to attempt — with straws — to halt the Gulf 
Stream !” 

“You’ll find us stemming the tide in this v for a while 
at least!” boasted Victor defiantly. 

A few days later Jack was confidently explaining to John 
Trainor his reasons for considering the franchise fight as 


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being already won. “I’m not relying on what others have 
reported,” he began, “but on conversations I’ve had with 
the aldermen myself. A majority are definitely pledged 
against a renewal of the franchise and for the postpone- 
ment of the matter until the election — ” 

“Haven’t you heard, Dalhart,” interrupted John with a 
smile, “that the council met in special session about an hour 
ago and granted the Street Car Company a five year re- 
newal of their franchise?” 

Jack was stunned for a mement and did not reply. 

“I’ll admit,” he remarked, finally, “I’m a novice in the 
practical handling of public affairs — in spite of having de- 
voted a number of years to a study of public questions. But 
a few jolts like this one and I’ll get my hand in!” 

“Anyway,” declared John, “we can consider it a partial 
victory. In fact, I’m rejoicing over the outcome. The 
aldermen who voted for the franchise renewal thereby 
practically eliminated themselves from the commissioner’s 
race — which considerably enhances the prospects of our 
men being elected. If we can only win out, there’ll be little 
else to block our efforts to make this a model municipality.” 

Jack left John and drove his car to Service Temple where 
he usually spent his leisure moments. Here it was that, to 
his delight, he often found Margaret Innington and Court- 
ney Chester. 

To-day, Courtney Chester was engaged in conversation 
with Victor Ridney: The latter was in an unusually jovial 
mood as a result, no doubt, of the happy outcome, as he 
viewed it, of the franchise dispute. Victor soon began to 
twit his friend unmercifully over his boasted precounting of 
the councilmen’s noses; and Jack, quickly recognizing that 
all the sympathies of their young woman companion were 
with his friend, soon excused himself and walked away. 
He hoped to find Miss Innington whose sympathies he felt 
sure would be with the cause of the Servers. 

In the library, Margaret Innington was seated reading; 


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241 




and when he gently took the book out of her hand, it proved 
to be a textual treaties on elemental sociology. 

“And what has turned your interest to this ?” 

“Why, Tm quite a student now of sociology, political 
economy, woman suffrage, and whatever else has to do with 
the live issues of the day. “You see,” she exclaimed,” I’m 
determined to think and to act for myself, and to cease de- 
pending on others for guidance.” 

“Bully for you !” he cried, “I wish there were fifty mil- 
lion like you ! Most folks take their politics, their religion, 
their breath, almost, from someone else. I’m delighted 
that you are informing yourself on such important ques- 
tions.” 

She did not tell him that it was because of her inability 
to comprehend all that he had tried to tell her concerning 
the work of the Servers that she had been led to a study 
of social and political problems. And his frank pleasure 
now pleased he ^ore than she disclosed. 

“I suppose you heard of the action of the city council in 
renewing the railway franchise,” he presently remarked, 
disconsolately. 

“Yes,” she replied anxiously, “and if politicians will do 
such things now, what will they do when they have control 
of all public utilities?” 

“They’ll not have the control,” he asserted vigorously, 
“The same sweep of political and social adjustment that is 
bringing about public ownership of public utilities will cause 
the elimination of the politicians. That irresponsible and 
predatory rabble slowly but surely will be superseded by 
trained and responsible business men. The substitution of 
the commission form of city government for the aldermanic 
is an illustration of this.” 

“With the franchise question settled,” she said with un- 
assumed interest, “to what will you turn your attention 
now?” 

“We shall strive to secure the election of our candidates 
for commissioners,” he replied. “You see,” he continued, 
16 


242 


THE SERVERS 


“we intend setting about deliberately to secure first control 
of our municipal government, and then control of our state 
government. When we have won our objectives we’ll turn 
this state into a veritable laboratory of social experiment.” 

“Will you personally lead the fight for the election of the 
commissioners ?” 

“No,” he replied, “the editor of the Journal will do that. 
My own energies will be directed toward spreading the 
activities and influence of our roganization throughout the 
state. If we are to control the affairs of the state, we must 
influence the whole of its citizenship; and in order to do 
this most effectively, we propose to make each one of our 
larger cities a center for our activities. Eventually, we hope 
to secure the control of daily newspapers in each of the 
larger cities.” 

“But have you funds sufficient to enable you to operate 
on such a scale?” 

“We have,” he assured her joyfully. “Our present in- 
come from all sources, including oil, approximates seventy 
thousand dollars a day. In addition, Dad and I have a 
few million to help things along.” 

“Those are wonderful money resources,” she exclaimed, 
but you’ll need many workers, too.” 

“Yes,” he replied, “and we’re making efforts to interest 
the needed workers. You saw the artistic little booklets 
we mailed out in response to the hundreds of inquiries that 
came as a consequence of the article in the Evening Post? 
That gives the history of the Servers and outlines our ob- 
jectives for the future. We mail that booklet to all we 
think might be interested in our movement. It is our pur- 
pose to influence as many of our sympathizers as possible 
to emigrate into this state in order that our forces may be 
consolidated, and so that we may the more quickly make 
this commonwealth the great leader and inspirer in the 
movement for social betterment.” 

“But how will you assimilate — how will you make pro- 
vision for — so many new members?” she exclaimed aghast. 


THE SERVERS 


243 


“They’lTnot all come as members of our organization/’ he 
replied. “In fact, probably only a few of those who come 
will do so with the avowed intention of giving their all to 
the service of God and man. But they will bring us their 
sympathy and their valiant support in spreading the great 
doctrines of social justice and righteousness. Of course, it 
will be necessary that we provide business openings or em- 
ployment for all who care to come. But that will not be as 
tremendous a task as it seems. We will find openings 
or employment for many through our numerous branches 
in the larger cities ; and the others we will locate in Model- 
town.” 

“But where is Modeltown?” she inquired eagerly. 

“It’s here, right now,” he laughed, tapping his forehead, 
“but it soon will be one of the livest industrial and agricul- 
tural communities in the state.” 

“Oh, that’s wonderful ! But where will it be located 
physically ?” 

“Our attorneys are examining the title to a large tract 
of land about eighteen miles from this city, near a generous 
supply of fuel oil. The heart and center of the town will 
be there at a point where two main line railroads cross.” 

“But just how will Modeltown differ from any other 
prosaic town?” she asked — her eyes aglow with greater in- 
terest. 

Modeltown will be deliberately planned,” he said. “The 
undertaking will be a part of our social laboratory work. 
We will demonstrate the building of a model town while, at 
the same time, providing habitations and industries for our 
new members and sympathizers.” 

“Oh, tell me more about it !” she exclaimed. 

“One of our main objectives,” he continued, “will be to 
prevent the town’s citizenship from being cramped into 
crowded tenements and apartment houses. . We intend for 
as many of the citizens as possible to have the joy and uplift 
of rural living. Therefore, the town’s two main boulevards 
will extend for many miles out into the country; while 


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crossing each other in the center of the town at the point 
where the railroads intersect. The boulevards will bisect 
the angles made by the railroads. Do you catch the picture ? 
— the boulevards and railroads all crossing at the same 
point — not unlike the hub of a wheel with eight spokes 
radiating from it? The railroads, of course, will be tun- 
nelled within the main limits of the town. The station 
will be at the point of crossing — and here also will be the 
town’s civic center.” 

“I can see the civic center,” she exclaimed, “and the long 
boulevards extending into the country, but where will the 
town’s manufacturing industries be located?” 

“The factories necessarily must be convenient to the rail- 
roads,” he explained, “and that will be in the angles formed 
by the boulevards — which angles will be bisected by the 
railroads. Though one or two other residence streets may 
be laid out on each side of the boulevards, yet the space in 
the angles will be reserved for factory locations. The fac- 
tories, of course, will be constructed along the most at- 
tractive architectural lines; and with all the modern im- 
provements in the way of smoke consuming devices, air- 
heating and cooling systems, rest-rooms, lunch-rooms, 
beautiful parks around them, and all else to make them 
habitable for respectable human workmen.” 

“I can see the broad boulevards lined with homes; and 
the beautiful factory buildings in between; and I can see 
the large civic center; but where will the business houses 
and office buildings be?” 

“You mean,” he asked with enthusiasm in his tone, 
“where will be all the grocery stores, and clothing stores, 
and produce and commission houses, and shoe and furni- 
ture and book and drug and tobacco stores, and beer 
saloons? And where will be the buildings containing the 
offices of all the lawyers and doctors and dentists and 
specialists and real-estate agents and insurance and book 
agents, and stock brokers and commission men and specu- 
lators of all kinds?” 


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“Yes,” that’s just what I mean,” she nodded. 

“Well, you won’t find them in Modeltown. All trade, 
professional, or other social parasites will be eliminated 
from the life of Modeltown. Only one large grocery and 
market, and one immense department store, will be located 
at the civic center. Here also will be located the public 
library, the municipal buildings, the railway station, and a 
few other necessary Structures.” 

“But the citizens living away from the civic center,” she 
protested, “will find it very inconvenient when they sud- 
denly discover their need of a spool of thread or perhaps 
a loaf of bread.” 

“You forget , that every home will have a telephone.” 

“Yes, I know, wise man, but you can’t send a spool of 
thread by telephone,” she laughed. 

He smiled in return as he said, “You must read Bellamy’s 
‘Looking Backward,’ and then remember that the Servers 
are folks who make social dreams come true ! Every 
Modeltown home, even those in the country, will be served 
by automatic delivery tubes radiating from the civic cen- 
ter.” 

“I should think that would require an impossible number 
of tubes,” she contended. 

“You do our inventive genius an injustice,” he reproached 
her. “You see, only one large tube will extend out each 
boulevard; but each one of those tubes will have hundreds 
of grooves in its sides. And each one of the cylindrical 
receptacles, to fit in the tubes, and for holding the parcels, 
will have flanges on them. When a receptacle containing 
a parcel is slipped into a tube for delivery, the flange will 
be fitted into that groove which, with electrical operation, 
will guide the speeding receptacle on into the particular 
branch tube extending to the home where the delivery is 
intended to be made.” 

“That sounds fine for the delivery of parcels, but the 
thought of it all makes me dizzy,” she exclaimed. “But 
the citizens themselves living out in the country will find 


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it inconvenient getting back and forth. Interurbans are so 
unsatisfactory — and I always just miss one.” 

“You’ll not find it so with our automatic interurbans.” 

“Automatic interurbans !” she exclaimed, “that sounds 
impossible !” 

“Many things now seeming impossible will be proved not 
to be so in Modeltown,” he boasted. “Freed as our citizens 
will be from the burdensome support of all parasitic persons 
and industries, they will be able to supply themselves with 
many new conveniences. For one thing, they will not have 
to endure the agony of an antiquated transportation system 
because of a franchise granted many years ago.” 

“Oh, do tell me about your automatic interurban,” she 
cried, with lively interest. 

“For one thing,” he said, “you will not have to wait an 
hour for a car ; and again there will not be any intermin- 
able delays at intervening stations while taking on other 
passengers. The automatic will pass along at intervals of 
one to ten minutes, according to the need of the traffic ; 
and they will rush to their destination without further 
stops.” 

“But how will you ever afford to run them so often?” 
she asked, incredulously. 

“You see,” he explained, “our cars will not be the large 
ones carrying a hundred, or more, passengers, but will be 
small cars seating only five or six persons ; and all motor- 
men and conductors will be eliminated.” 

“I cannot understand how that will be,” she exclaimed; 
“it seems to me the cars would be dangerous without any- 
one to start and to stop them.” 

“Not at all,” he contended, “IT1 try to explain to you 
how they will operate. The tracks will be laid in tunnels 
extending from the civic center of the town out the broad 
boulevards to the ends of the built up sections, and there 
they will circle and come back. Cables for propelling the 
cars will constantly be moving around these belts. And at 
intervals of every few minutes small cars will. race along the 


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247 


tracks. At reasonable distances curving switches will lead 
into small stations. Other cables, independent of the main 
line ones, will constantly be moving between the tracks of 
the switches. 

“A person going to a station to take a car will have 
simply to press a button ; which will set in motion an electric 
current that automatically will effect the opening of the 
necessary switch and cause the first empty little car racing 
along the main line to head in and come to a stop at the 
station. The person will enter the car ; close the gate, throw 
a lever, press a button ; and the switch cable will shunt the 
little car back onto the main line, where it will go racing 
along without any irritating and time-losing stops at inter- 
vening stations to take on other passengers. When near- 
ing the desired destination, the passenger will again throw 
a lever, press a button, and the little car will be shunted 
into a switch and come to a stop at the station.” 

“But 1 can’t see,” she exclaimed, “how it all will be done 
by just pressing buttons — but then, after all, everything is 
done these days by merely pressing buttons !” 

“It seems complicated, of course,” he agreed, “but it will 
be done by mechanical devices, and the opening and closing 
of electrical contacts.” 

“But how will it be,” she asked, “that only empty cars 
will stop for the waiting passengers?” 

“Well, you see,” he explained, “when a person waiting 
at a station presses a button to stop a car, the electric 
current set in motion* will not effect the opening of the 
necessary switch until it has. passed through an approach- 
ing car. And the current will not pass through a car con- 
taining a passenger because that passenger at the time he 
started his car will have lowered a certain lever necessary 
to a complete electrical circuit.” 

“It certainly sounds like a vision of the new heaven and 
the new earfli,” exclaimed Miss Innington. 


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They were joined at this moment by Rodney and Miss 
Chester and the conversation, naturally, was turned into 
other channels. 


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249 


CHAPTER VII. 

PLANNING FOR STATEWIDE EXPANSION 

I. 

Jack Dalhart found that John Trainor had not overstated 
the value of the Service organization as an instrument for 
securing better social adjustments. 

“Our chief business is that of transmuting social ideals 
into actualities,” John had early stated to Jack; “and our 
organization has the will, the intelligence, the enthusiasm 
and, not least of all, the necessary material resources en- 
abling us to function joyfully toward our objectives. If 
we lack anything just now, it is a leader with the executive 
ability to organize and direct our activities on a statewide 
basis.” 

And several weeks later, after having reached full 
estimates of one another, Jack had been delighted when 
John had exclaimed : “Go ahead, Dalhart. I pledge you 
the ardent support of every one of our comrades in carrying 
out your plans. I only wish, God knows, that I had the 
physical strength to pull double harness with you !” 

The Servers had reached a point of practical domina- 
tion in the affairs of the one city; but they realized that 
the welfare of the one community was involved so in- 
separably in the welfare of the state as a whole, that they 
could not hope for much further in the way of social bet- 
terment until they had secured the control of the lawmaking 
machinery of the entire state. 

“In order to secure that control,” Jack had argued to 
John in one of their discussions, “we must sway public 
opinion. And to direct public opinion we must, to a large 
extent, dominate the public press. And to do that effec- 
tively, we should own a daily newspaper in each one of our 
larger cities.” 

“Yes,” John had added, “and to secure the absolute free- 


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dom of those papers from all outside influence, they must 
have financial support independent of the ordinary income 
of newspapers from the sale of advertising space.” 

“I agree with you,” Jack had responded; “we must 
establish other Service business enterprises in each one of 
the city centers in order to guarantee the independence of 
our newspapers.” 

And when the franchise controversy had ended. Jack, 
with impetuous enthusiasm, had set about the pursuance of 
his plans for statewide expansion. He found that many 
of his comrades were men with the highest capacity, and 
who were willing to go to whatever field of service was 
assigned to them. Therefore, a number of these comrades 
Jack had formed into a committee on statewide expansion. 
These had immediately undertaken the investigation of 
prospective profitable mercantile openings in the ten larger 
cities of the state. 

A few months after this Jack was ready with his first 
report to John. He sought Trainor out at the resort to 
which he had gone seeking the recovery of his health. 
“We’re making splendid progress,” Jack reported enthus- 
iastically. “We have been following your advice and have 
first established our grocery branches in the larger cities. 
As you argued, the class of competition in this field makes 
it easier to break into. The grocery merchants mostly are 
men of mediocre business training getting returns seldom 
larger than salary earnings. Therefore, in many instances, 
where we have taken over establishments, we have retained 
the former owners as our managers. This plan works ad- 
mirably. With our modern methods and larger resources, 
we are able to pay the former owners salaries more satis- 
factory than were their previous earnings, and still have 
handsome dividends for ourselves.” 

“And your policy is right in line,” commented John, 
“with our objective of ultimately systematizing the food 
distribution of the whole state. But tell me, with what suc- 
cess are you managing to assimilate new members?” 


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251 


“With the best of success/’ responded Jack, happily. 
“Your far-sighted policy of establishing the Servers in so 
many varied activities has made it possible for us quickly 
to assign new members to effective pursuits. During the 
past few months scores of men and women have besought 
us, clamoring to be assigned to a service. They have come 
enthusiastic for work, and eager for sacrifice. In each in- 
stance, however, we have endeavored to assign them to 
services that would be not only effective, but would tend 
to brighten their own lots. Those who have come with the 
bent and rounded shoulders of clerks and bookkeepers, we 
have sent to tasks that straighten and strengthen men. 
Those who have come with drooping spirits and sad count- 
enances, we have sent to labors that should provoke smiles 
and sunshine in their lives. Oh, it’s great, Trainor, to 
serve and to be served !” 

“Unselfish service,” responded John fervently, “rendered 
in the name of the Great Server, alone will work the re- 
demption of society ! But tell me,” he asked eagerly after 
a moment, “how are your plans for Modeltown?” 

“Dad’s having the first vacation in his life,” laughed 
Jack; “he’s like a kid with a new toy, or, more appropriately, 
like a monarch with a new dominion. He’s on the job in 
person from sun-up until dark; and when Dad gets through 
having stamped the joy of his new vision on it, Modeltown 
will be a Mastertown. Dad will expend hundreds of 
thousand of dollars on the boulevards, the tunnels, and the 
landscape work before permitting a single structure to be 
started above ground.” 

“Ah !” exclaimed John, “what torture it is to be bound 
here to helpless inactivity ! How I long to be in strenuous 
action !” 

“Patience, patience, man,” urged Jack, “or you’ll make 
me regret having come with my poor report ! You are our 
inspiration here, just as much as you ever were!” 

Jack’s many activities carried him out of the city more 
than they kept him in it ; but he, nevertheless, followed 


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with unabated interest the bitter campaign that was being 
waged for the election of the members of the new city 
commission. The contest between the progressive and the 
reactionary forces had reached the culminating point, and 
both sides realized that defeat would mean irreparable in- 
jury to their cause. 

The bitterness of the conflict was brought close home 
to Jack because his good friend Victor was supporting the 
opposition with all his power. Rodney was an impassioned 
orator, and being well grounded in the conservative theories 
of politics, he was able to bulwark his pleas with seemingly 
unanswerable arguments. The progressive spirit of the Ser- 
vers, however, during the past few years, had been slowly 
pervading the life of the city, and the ears of its citizenship 
now were deafened to many of the time worn contentions 
of the stand-pat element. 

The two friends had many arguments during the heat of 
the campaign, and the bond of friendship between them 
often was subjected to a severe strain. Their latest con- 
troversy, one concerning th^ fundamental principles of 
government, arose when Jack had occasion to seek Victor 
at his office. 

“The only legitimate function of government,” contended 
Rodney, with considerable heat, “is the protection of its 
citizens in the enjoyment of their life, liberty and property; 
and when a government assumes other paternalistic func- 
tions it usurps the rights of individuals !” 

“The highest end of government,” disputed Jack, “is the 
promotion of the welfare of all of its citizens; and it is 
not only the right but the duty of a government to use all 
means necessary toward that end !” 

“Yes,” muttered Victor fiercely, “your theory is that the 
general good demands the elimination of the individual ; 
and that theory is utterly destructive of all the highest tradi- 
tions of American individualism !” 

“You’re mistaken,” retorted Jack; “my theory is that 
the general good demands the highest development of each 


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253 


and every individual. Your boasted traditions of individual- 
ism were the product of the early Protestant Reformation ; 
and that Reformation will surely be defeated in its ultimate 
purpose if the pendulum then set in motion is not checked in 
its far swing toward that ultra-individualism which leads 
men to disregard their social duties. This we seek to pre- 
vent. We are trying to bring men to a full realization of 
their social obligations, and when they will have come to 
such an understanding, they will find they have acquired a 
nobler individualism.” 

“You seek to make men equal, to get them into heaven 
by government !” sneered Rodney in disgust. 

“Be reasonable, Rod,” begged Jack, “I know that you’re 
honest in your views, and that selfish considerations do not 
influence you, but your prejudice is as great as though you 
did have vested and selfish interests at stake. Put aside 
your preconceived notions, investigate, and you will find 
that the prime cause of most of the social evils of to-day 
is your very philosophy of individualism.” 

“But you cry evils, miseries, all around us,” exclaimed 
Rodney, “and I do not see them. I see only the hustle and 
bustle and clamor of ambitious men and women seeking to 
express themselves.” 

“ ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see,’ ” 
quoted Jack, “But you’re the rule and not the exception, 
Rod; for most folks are either so blindly, or so selfishly, 
immersed in their own petty affairs, that they cannot, or 
will not see the misery and suffering of their fellows.” 

“If men are miserable, it’s because they are weak and 
lazy, and of no account,” protested Rodney; “opportunity 
is free and equal to all !” 

“That’s false, Rod; as false as hell!” cried Jack hotly, 
“Opportunity is open only to the privileged few ! The un- 
counted millions who are held in the bondage of industrial 
slavery have no opportunity for higher development. Men 
like yourself boast that you are what you are because you 
have made the best of your opportunities ; and you cry that 


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all men have the same privilege. That’s false. What you 
are, what you have, you owe to society’s favoritism ! Society 
jealously nursed you as a child, schooled you as a boy; 
educated you as a man ; and now supplies you with all the 
comforts and luxuries of life. These comforts and luxuries 
are not merely happenings ; neither are they produced by 
your kind. They’re being showered on you by the sweat 
and blood of society’s less fortunate. And what is your 
appreciation, your gratitude, your return? Empty words 
and grand declaimings about equal opportunity and a 
boasted individualism ! The men of your class do not 
hesitate to stand on the bended backs of their brothers in 
order to gather the choicest fruits of civilization. But when 
they have done so they spurn their ill-used brothers as be- 
ing unworthy of sharing those fruits with them. We de- 
mand that the brothers with the bended backs shall share 
equitably in the fruits that are gathered !” 

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” expostulated Rodney, furi- 
ously; “If I do not look out for myself, will my brother 
look out for me? No! And I will not be driven from the 
position I hold that one’s first duty is to one’s self !” 

“And I declare that to be the falsest untruth and most 
mischievous lie ever fabricated !” exclaimed Jack. “One’s 
first duty is to God. I will narrow the definition and say 
that one’s first duty is to the Creator. Why? Because life 
is good ! Because the physical world in which we live that 
life is a place of beauty and grandeur forever!” 

But Victor retorted doggedly : “One’s first duty is to 
one’s self! One’s second duty is to one’s family!” 

“That’s another monstrous misconception of a man’s ob- 
ligations,” exclaimed Jack. “One’s second duty is to So- 
ciety. Why? Because Society is the Creator at work on 
earth ! Society makes life better. It gives us what the 
savage has not. I repeat, one’s highest duties are to God 
and Society. If selfish interests clash, if family interests 
intrude, nevertheless, one must press on in the nobler ser- 
vice. In this way only will we fulfill our highest mission. 


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255 


In this way only will the master plans of the Creator have 
their perfect consummation. We are God’s co-workers in 
erecting the noble structure of an eternal civilization ! Shall 
we, then, let our own petty interests swerve us from the 
diviner work?” 


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CHAPTER VIII. 

LOVERS 

I 

While Victor Rodney could not justly be called a spoiled 
child of fortune, yet, the adventitious circumstances of life 
had all been in his favor. He had been born into a family 
whose inherited income had been most generous ; and Victor 
had been afforded all the advantages of high-school, college 
and university education. He knew nothing of the actual 
toil and hardships of life; and therefore, he knew little 
how to sympathize with those less fortunate than himself. 
By nature he was imperious, impetuous and tempestuous. 
He was dogmatic himself, but he thoroughly detested dog- 
matism in others. He was brilliant intellectually; and, 
therefore, he was very successful in his legal pursuits, 
which he loved, but otherwise his life was gloomy and in- 
complete. 

The advent of Margaret Innington had been like a bow 
suddenly breaking across his life’s dark cloud. The serene 
and tender nobility of her nature soon awakened all the 
passion of his affections, and presently he was storming at 
her heart’s castle in tumultous fashion. But Margaret met 
Victor’s advances with an undisturbed equanimity. She 
saw the danger ahead, and assumed a steady poise for pro- 
tection; she subdued and stilled the clamorous emotions in 
her own heart, while her mind was weighing and measuring 
his true worth. Always, when she faced her lover, and 
looked into the depths of his passionate black eyes, her own 
clear blue ones held constant while they searched, searched 
the dark depths in an effort to read the innermost secrets 
of the man’s soul. She knew her lover was one who sat 
on the scorner’s seat; and she earnestly sought to know if 
this, his failure to worship truth was because he was blind 
and could not see, or merely because, as yet, he had not 
seen. 


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257 


She did not seek to inveigle him into church attendance 
with the hope that sometime a lucky shaft from the pulpit 
might pierce the armor of his disbelief. She did not have 
to do so, he voluntarily sought her presence no matter what 
distasteful environment held her ; and Sunday mostly found 
him by her side in church. Usually, he was patient there; 
but sometimes, near the close of a service, when the minis- 
ter would persist in holding the congregation on their feet 
an unconscionable length of time while calling for “just one 
more sinner to accept Christ,” he would grow restless, and 
she would feel him chafing. On these occasions, she always 
was prepared for an outburst after the services. 

“It’s rotten,” he protested one Sunday night, “for him 
to hold the whole crowd while he calls for sinful souls like 
an auction spieler selling junk. He snaps his fingers with 
all the eclat of a dice thrower, while he bids, ‘Who’ll be 
next? Who’ll be the next to accept peace and salvation by 
merely surrendering to Christ?’ It’s a lie! to pretend to 
be able to hand out salvation like dishing out hash !” 

“But he gets converts !” Margaret insisted. 

“Converts?” he repeated in disgust. “Is that what you 
term the poor devils who press forward under the stress 
of emotional excitement to receive the preacher’s ‘blessing,’ 
and the ‘I’m so glad you’ve taken this step,’ of the fussy 
sisters — many of whom would not recognize the poor con- 
vert on the street?” 

“Yes, they’re really converts,” she contended; “they re- 
ceive the grace of God in their souls and begin to lead new 
lives.” 

“But it’s a grace of God that doesn’t last,” he scoffed. 
“The poor devils find themselves still sinful and discon- 
tented; and their disillusionment makes their hopeless con- 
dition darker and more dismal than ever.” 

“Some of them hold out,” she maintained, firmly; “some 
of them become sincerely repentant and begin to lead more 
righteous lives.” 

“Repentance,” he sneered; “your preachers, with their 
17 


258 


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mysterious scholasticism, call it ‘conversion’ and ‘repent- 
ance.’ Why don’t they discard their fictions, and in simple 
and unveiled terms seek to lead men to a knowledge that 
the lives they are living are not in accord with the highest 
possible existence — and thus persuade men to resolve to en- 
deavor to conform their living to nobler standards?” 

“But you do not understand,” she protested, helplessly, 
“that it takes the grace of God to redeem men from their 
sins !” 

“More fiction!” he scoffed. “It’s pure rot to be told 
that by nature we’re utterly sinful and destined to eternal 
hell-fire if we do not consent suddenly to believe that a 
man who died two thousand years ago, calling himself the 
Son of God, gave his life for our salvation !” 

“But it’s true,” she exclaimed, “men are born utterly 
sinful, totally depraved, and the grace of God is needed to 
redeem them from their lost condition !” 

“No!” he cried, emphatically, “that’s an insult to the 
very God you worship ! Besides, if men are born utterly 
sinful, how can they have the good in them to resolve to 
become better? Your Christ did not say anything about 
men being born totally depraved. Your Bible does say 
that men are created in the image of their God ! and I’d 
rather believe, with your Bible, and with the poet, that— 

“ ‘Trailing clouds of glory do we come 
From God who is our home!’ 

“Our birthright is the privilege of seeking the nobler 
things, and it’s an insult to God and man for preachers to 
proclaim that we’re born children of the devil and utterly 
depraved !” 

Such scornful denunciations of her church, together with 
his scathing arraignment of the ministry, and his unyielding 
attitude towards the Servers, caused Margaret to meet her 
lover’s impetuous advances toward herself with increas- 
ingly firm, though patient, rebuffs. 

“You applaud those who are in selfish pursuits simply 
because they are — conventional !” she cried, hopelessly ; 


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259 


“while you utterly scorn those who unselfishly and nobly 
are seeking to serve truth and beauty and justice !” 

“What is truth ?” he cried, and waiting not for an answer 
exclaimed: “Shall I accept the truth as it is proclaimed by 
your ungowned protestant priests? Or shall I submit my 
soul’s freedom to be fettered by the mysterious pronuncia- 
mentos that come from the crowned potentates who sit en- 
throned in oligarchial Rome?” 

“It’s your attitude,” she protested, earnestly ; “it’s your 
mental attitude that will not permit you to search for truth 
in all sources !” 

“And it’s their dogmatism,” he muttered; “it’s the in- 
fernal dogmatism of the priests that I cannot and will not 
accept !” 

“No,” she insisted, “you intellectuals are all alike. You 
condemn dogmatism and narrow-mindedness in others, 
while consistently refusing to walk the broad path your- 
selves. You are intellectually egotistical, and scorn the very 
sources whence you might find the truth. Truth will not 
come to those having such churlish manners. Truth will 
come to those only who seek for it in all places high and 
low, and with perfect humility !” 

ii 

In direct contravention to what many would suppose to 
be the law of affinity, and, therefore, with the most doubt- 
ful promise of success — while Victor Rodney was wooing 
the fair Margaret with all the passionate fervor that is in- 
herent in the sons of the darker skinned races, his frienc, 
Jack Dalhart, in his vigorous, yet thoroughly calculating 
way, was fencing at hearts with the intellectual Courtney 
Chester. 

That young woman’s nature was cold — not cold, how- 
ever, like the icicle, which will break before bending, and 
which, if warmed, will melt to nothingness — Courtney’s na- 
ture was cold as is steel, and like steel was susceptible, no 
doubt, of being tempered by fire. But Courtney Chester 


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had never passed through fire. She had lived and moved 
and had her being from babyhood to womanhood in afflu- 
ent circumstances; and, therefore, she had little personal 
consciousness of the severer realities of life. Her concep- 
tion of poverty and distress, for instance, was the same 
impersonal conception as that of the fashionable knitting 
bees. The harsher realities meant as little to her from a 
religious viewpoint as they mean to most statesmen from 
a political one. They are ‘‘unfortunate conditions” affect- 
ing those only who live in the backyards of life, as it were. 
And while they are conditions that must be improved by 
the corrective efforts of society, in the fullness of time, yet, 
they are not to be magnified and continually agitated to the 
discomfort of those who look out only of the front windows 
of life, while piously striving to keep the rear curtains 
drawn ! 

And yet, Courtney was well satisfied, intellectually and 
emotionally, with her beliefs. And while her religion was 
sincere, it was thoroughly respectable. 

‘It’s smug complacency !” Jack did not hesitate to tell her. 
“You sit in your pew arrayed in royal robes, and grieve not 
that those fine fabrics were woven by the aching fingers 
of society’s step-children ! — children of God who themselves 
are clothed in ‘looped and windowed raggedness !’ ” 

“But must I wear rags simply because others wear 
them ?” 

“No,” he cried, “but it’s your unconcern ; it’s your Chris- 
tian unconcern for God’s wretched and unfortunate ones 
that stirs my wrath !” 

“If we were unconcerned,” she corrected him, “we would 
be un-Christian.” 

“In God’s judgment,” he cried fiercely, “you and your 
religion and your father’s ministry are un-Christian!” 

She understood him or else his words would have been 
insulting. She often spoke in terms as harsh, too, about 
his fanaticism, and his soap-box religion. She knew that 


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261 


in his heart he respected the church, and if his criticisms 
were severe they were uttered in the sincere belief that they 
were justified. 

“The church as a whole, like society as a whole,” he 
once had remarked, “is dominated by unsocial, un-Chris- 
tian forces. But in spite of this domination, both the church 
and society are moving forward toward the further heights 
of progress. There is an unseen force — call it what one 
will : Evolution, Logos, or God — that continuously is shap- 
ing the destinies of institutions, of men, of nations; that is 
irresistably compelling the betterment of things. As Chinese 
women once bound their feet and thereby sought to abort 
and retard the forces of nature, so, selfish, and wicked men 
bind the social body with many laws, customs and insti- 
tutions which distort the social growth. And narrow- 
minded, pharisaical, and un-Christian men, emasculate the 
church with numerous rites, ceremonies and creeds, which 
stay its spiritual growth. But the great, brooding-spirit 
of God will not be thwarted; and in His good time the 
church and society will have their full fruition and com- 
plete salvation !” 

“Your kind words about the church surprise me !” Court- 
ney had exclaimed. 

“I can speak kindly,” had declared Jack, “for while I 
believe the church as a whole undoubtedly is lethargic, and 
is palliative in its influence, it is not so with individual 
spirits within the church. There are single dynamic souls 
within the institution that are aglow with the holy fires of 
enthusiasm and consecration. And if the institution itself 
no longer is the inspirer and guide in all endeavors for the 
common welfare, these divinely fired single souls still are 
the torch-bearers of progress.” 

Thus they had their frequent heated discussions; but in 
spite of their present religious differences, the friendship 
of Courtney and Jack seemed steadily to be ripening into 


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that purer affection where all differences are forgotten — 
or, at least — are not magnified to such an extent as to dis- 
turb a joyous domestic felicity. 


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263 


CHAPTER IX. 

DIVERGING ROADS OF DESTINY. 

I 

Election day in the city came, and the victory of the pro- 
gressive forces was complete. This meant that the face of 
the municipal body would continue to be set in the direction 
of the rising sun of social betterment. The newly elected 
mayor and commissioners were forward-looking men, un- 
afraid of venturing away from the traditional moorings of 
yesterday. 

The conservative forces took their defeat in a spirit of 
sullen defiance. They settled back to await the inevitable 
day, as they believed, when the new ship of government 
would go on the rocks; and while awaiting they would 
work — and there would be no lack of dangerous obstruc- 
tions in the passageway. 

Jack Dalhart greeted his comrades of victory with all the 
great joy of a Columbus completing another voyage; and 
Victor Rodney took the defeat of his side somewhat in the 
nature of a personal affront from his friend; and when he 
and Jack met and parted on the day after the election, the 
bond of friendship between them had become strained to 
the breaking point. 

Victor's manner was no less violent and vindicative when 
later he discussed the outcome of the voting with Margaret 
Innington. Her heart was sorely troubled by her lover’s 
unyielding attitude toward those who so unselfishly and so 
loyally were seeking to evolve a better adjustment of social 
conditions. She herself had just taken a step which she 
knew would cause him severe pain, and she hesitated to 
tell him what she had done; she half wished she had waited 
just a little longer. She knew he was entirely sincere in 
his belief that a great disaster had just overtaken his home 
city; and that he was deeply disappointed and sorely hurt 
by the new twist of affairs, and she recoiled from wounding 


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him further. Dissimilation is impossible, however, before 
a lover’s jealous eyes, and she was not entirely surprised 
when he suddenly exclaimed: 

“You’re withholding something from me that you do not 
care to be entirely frank about !” 

“You’re mistaken,” she protested ; “I do want to be frank 
with you; but today you’re so highly sensitive.” 

“You needn’t tell me,” he rejoined, bitterly. “I know — 
you’ve joined the Servers.” 

He paused just long enough to read the confirmation in 
her eyes, and then turned on his heel and hurried away. 

Victor’s pathway from boyhood on always had been well 
cleared in advance for him by society’s good fairies. He 
had suffered few disappointments, and, as yet, had encoun- 
tered none of the stings of poverty or any of tfie thorns 
of social caste. But he was now suddenly brought up at the 
foot of a mountain, down the side of which an “avalanche 
of the ills of life” was in rapid motion. That when the 
fortunate seek greater fortune they are not wholly immune 
from misfortune, was a lesson Victor was about to have 
severely brought home to him. Though he was not a 
gambler by nature, yet he was thoroughly innoculated with 
the bacilli of speculation — that disease which is so entirely 
destructive to both individual and collective welfare. Vic- 
tor had seen an opportunity not only to double his capital at 
one stroke, but also to secure for himself the sinecure of a 
princely retainer as the attorney for a corporation. The 
opportunity had been that of taking over the stock of a 
local insurance company at fifty per cent of its valuation. 
The company was represented as being in sore straits, but 
susceptible of being quickly placed on a one hundred per 
cent basis. And so the young attorney and several of his 
close business associates had successfully manipulated the 
deal and had acquired the stock of the corporation. 

On this day, after his disagreeable parting with Margaret, 
Victor, in quite a sullen mood, had continued on to his 
office. And there he made a discovery that sunk his spirits 


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265 


to the extreme edge of depression. He found the confirma- 
tion of a truth he recently had begun to fear. On his desk 
was the report of an investigator, showing that numerous 
records of the insurance company were mere fabrications, 
and many of the stocks, bonds, and mortgages were clever 
forgeries. 

With feverish anxiety the young man immediately set 
about endeavoring to salvage what he could from the wreck- 
age. He might have been somewhat successful in his ef- 
forts, if his associates had been loyal to him ; but they were 
shrewder men than he, and less scrupulous, and in their 
effort to “get from under” and save themselves, they left 
the young attorney in difficult straits. At the end of a 
fortnight, Victor found himself completely broken in for- 
tune and stripped of every vestige of faith in his fellows. 

He sought his bankers for assistance; and where, before, 
he had always been met with suave courtesy, he now was 
confronted with chilling diffidence, and was told that finan- 
cial accommodation was impossible. 

“But,” he cried, impatiently, “my credit always has been 
good here!” 

The banker smiled deprecatingly as he replied: “Hereto- 
fore, you consistently have furnished us with ample se- 
curity.” 

“Then your loans to me were solely on my property and 
not my credit,” exclaimed the young man savagely, “and 
now that I have no property I have no credit.” 

“If you will secure endorsements,” suggested the cashier, 
with rising inflection. 

“But those endorsees must have property,” insisted Vic- 
tor. 

“Certainly,” agreed the banker; “they must be men of 
substantial worth.” 

“And their worth is guaged by the extent of their prop- 
erty?” 

“We take into consideration their moral worth also.” 


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“But without property they would be without moral 
worth ?” 

“Practically, none,” agreed the money lender. 

“In other words,” exclaimed Victor, “you will make a 
loan to a known crook and gambler if he supplies the proper 
collateral ; but you will not make a loan to a known honest 
man who cannot furnish security other than his character?” 

“The collateral is what we must look to in the end,” re- 
plied the banker. 

“Then the fiction Fve believed about all business resting 
upon the foundations of faith and credit is buncombe and 
pure rot !” cried the crest-fallen young man, as he left the 
bank. 

The one friend to whom he might have gone with full 
assurance of financial aid in his distress was Jack Dalhart. 
But he did not go to Jack. Wounded vanity and a heart 
full of the hurt of defeat and distress, stayed his steps. 
False pride is the stoutest single barrier to one’s enduring 
welfare ; and that deplorable trait blocked impassably every 
pathway which the sore and floundering man might have 
taken towards help. 

Victor sullenly nursed the hurt in his stricken heart ; and 
savagely magnified the feeling that the sharpest shafts had 
come from the ones whom he had deemed to be his dear- 
est friends. His mind and soul became clouded with an 
overwhelming darkness, and he groped helplessly for a 
gleam of light to point his further way. Without faith in 
his friends, and with less in himself, Rodney felt that he 
could no longer face the future in the old surroundings. 
So presently, with the feeling that he was bartering away 
his very soul he parted with his library and a few ot:he r 
precious possessions, and then with a word to only a few. 
and without a farewell from anyone, the broken-spirited 
young man departed from the city. 

ii. 

As though fate had synchronized the events to occur si- 


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multaneously, a crushing disaster came into the life of 
Courtney Chester, at the same time misfortune was over- 
whelming the young •attorney. 

Her father was pastor of the wealthiest down-town 
church in the city; and, by reason of this fact, and because 
of his great oratorical powers, the Reverend Arthur Gill 
Chester was considered by long odds the most prominent 
preacher in any of the city’s pulpits. The Reverend Arthur 
Gill might have been a sport had he not been a preacher. 
His clothes and many other characteristics indicated this 
fact. He had a peculiar way of snapping his fingers when 
calling for converts — which led Victor Rodney to remark 
that he played for souls with all the passion of a gambler. 
He was a good mixer with both sexes ; and the wealthier 
members of his congregation truly “worshipped at his 
shrine.” They proudly predicted that ere long he would 
be called to even larger fields of labor. And he might have 
been, had not the husband of the fashionable woman leader 
of his choir caused a sudden explosion. 

Her father’s shame fell on Courtney more crushingly 
than her own would have done. She herself could not have 
erred without a previous change of character and conse- 
quent moral adjustment. The blow could not have fallen 
suddenly as did the present one, which came with a blinding 
shock. Like the unfortunate young man she groped for a 
gleam of light. 

Courtney, too, had pride as the cornerstone of her char- 
acter, and she felt now that she could not face her dearest 
friends even for a moment. Every instinct urged her to 
hide herself ; to flee from those whom she could not face 
unashamed. And so, with never a word to father or friends, 
Courtney Chester, mortified and humiliated, faded from the 
life of the city as a sunbeam is dissipated in the blackness 
of a tangled thicket. 

Margaret and Jack mourned the loss of their friends with 
a grief that was inexpressible. They sought each other for 
comfort, but had little to say, as words would have been 


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painful. Each could not know the depth of the other’s dis- 
tress — only guess it. Nor could they measure at once their 
own loss. . 

But in the slow months that followed, Margaret Inning- 
ton learned with heavy spirit what it means to carry the 
burden of a disappointed love. She heard no word from 
the one who so passionately had wooed her, and her aching 
heart often cried out for solace. Sometimes, in quiet 
prayer, she would plead to God for a healing balm ; and 
sometimes, to the stars, she would cry for a faith that the 
hurt always would not be there. Not the loss of lover, but 
of love, was the measure of the ache in her heart. She did 
not know and had not known, if she loved Victor Rodney. 
But she did know that her soul had been awakened ; that 
a restless life-craving instinct had been aroused within her. 
And if she was uncertain whether she loved the absent man, 
yet, she was certain of the incessant flashing of passionate 
beams from his appealing eyes across the screen of her 
memory. And in the long months that dragged their slow 
lengths away, consuming flames from those fires often 
wrung from her lips cries for a surcease of pain. To love 
and to be loved had become a necessity for her woman 
nature. 

Quite unlike his companion in desertion, Jack Dalhart 
did not have that deep and tender emotional nature which 
makes love a necessity. Jack was destined, possibly, never 
to experience the passion, the doubts, the yearning, the 
wild joy of imaginative love. And yet, since he first had 
known Courtney Chester, a vague discontent had stirred 
within him ; and the sudden disappearance of that young 
woman had left him distressingly restless and unsatisfied. 
A feverish thirst seemed suddenly to possess him, and the 
only cooling draughts that came were in those occasional 
twilight moments of thought when he would nurse the con- 
viction that some day he would again be satisfied. In the 
meantime, with sorrow-consecrated, and with more earnest 
determination, he set about discharging the daily tasks at 
hand. 


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CHAPTER X. 

HEALTH ADJUSTMENTS IN A CITY. 

I. 

One of the strongest of Jack Dalhart’s passions was that 
of cleanliness. He often said that while he could not find 
it in his heart to hate any human being, it was easy to hate 
many abstractions; and the first among these detestations 
was injustice, from which he recoiled with all the power 
of his faculties — yet, following as a close second, he felt an 
immense hatred of uncleanliness in all its forms, and espe- 
cially did he hold a shrinking disgust for the uncleanliness 
that goes with disease. 

It is no great wonder then, when Jack found his city gov- 
ernment in the hands of a friendly and progressive set of 
commissioners, he should immediately turn his thoughts 
toward planning for the betterment of its sanitary and 
health conditions. It so happened that one of the newly 
elected city commissioners was a young doctor named 
Forstner who had been led to run for office at the sacrifice 
of his professional interests because of his eagerness to 
further progressive action in the city along certain lines. 
Accordingly, Jack took up with Forstner the matter of 
health improvement with the expectation that his proposals 
would have a sympathetic hearing; but he found, to his 
surprise and disappointment, that the young physician 
showed instant opposition to the innovations intimated as 
being desirable. . It is true that Jack’s plans involved many 
radical readjustments.; but he had hoped that a point had 
been reached in the progress of the city where the citizens 
would be ready to consider any innovation, however radical, 
if it really appeared to be for their higher welfare. 

But when Forstner showed such instant opposition to his 
suggestions, Jack realized that it would be unwise to press 
his proposals further. He knew that the aggressively un- 
favorable attitude of the doctor, who stood high in his pro- 


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fession, would have great weight with his associates on the 
commission. 

Very^oon, however, a new and encouraging situation 
developed. At a small dinner party Dr. Forstner was in- 
troduced to Margaret Innington, and he immediately and 
completely capitulated to her charms. With a splendid dash 
that he had in his character, he began to press his atten- 
tions from the very moment he met her. But Margaret, 
on the other hand, because of the only too recent tragic 
disappearance of her former lover, was disposed to hold 
herself in quiet seclusion ; and she gave little encourage- 
ment to the doctor’s attentions. But this, in certain accord 
with human nature, only served to fire Forstner’s spirits the 
more, and he pursued her on every possible occasion. 

When Margaret disclosed, by suddenly withdrawing in- 
to further seclusion, a quiet but firm determination not 
only to discourage, but not to receive Forstner’s attentions, 
it was Jack who, with sudden inspiration, suggested to his 
friend that it might be for the good of their cause if she 
would cultivate the acquaintance of the young man, who 
w'as in the influential position of one of the city’s fathers. 
It did not occur to Jack what a dangerous situation he was 
encouraging for Margaret ; nor could he know, of course, 
what pangs of jealousy later were to be stirred in his own 
heart because of the very situation he was now precipi- 
tating. 

Margaret, because of her unselfish loyalty to her com- 
rades, was willing to do anything that promised to be in 
furtherance of their common cause. And while she would 
not have been willing, nor would Jack have asked her, to 
give the young doctor any encouragement that was not 
sincere, she was willing, when Jack explained to her the 
importance of the plans he was seeking to further, to con- 
sent to receive Forstner’s company on a basis of pure 
friendship. This served the purpose, at least, of permitting 
Jack himself to become better acquainted with Forstner; for 
so often did the doctor seek Margaret’s company, where 


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he seldom failed to find Jack, that the two men soon be- 
came intimately acquainted. And this permitted Jack later 
to press his plans with a more vigorous freedom of expres- 
sion. 

Jack's plan in its most radical aspect involved the pro- 
posal to place all the competent doctors, dentists, and spe- 
cialists in the community, on the city's payroll ; and to set 
them to the organized, dogged and persistent task of eradi- 
cating sickness and disease and restoring and preserving 
the public health. 

It was this unusual phase of Jack's plans that had met 
Forstner's stern opposition, and had caused him to insist 
it was impossible to be considered. And that he had not 
yielded in his antagonism, Jack found when he again ap- 
proached him on the subject. 

“It’s too radical, Dalhart,” the doctor exclaimed, “your 
proposition is too unusual and would set us flying in the 
very face of all the customs of our people !” 

“But let me remind you, Fortsner,” insisted Jack, “that 
you men were elected our commissioners on a platform 
which particularly pledged you to the effort to hew away 
all the entanglements of customs, conventions and preju- 
dices, and to pursue unalterably a course that should lead 
to a goal of inevitable better civic welfare. Fortunately, the 
recent home-rule legislation enacted at our state capitol 
has freed you from many of the legal tangles of the past; 
your major obstructions now lie here at home. I realize 
that your procedure still must be in spite of the aggres- 
sively unsocial element; of the aggressively selfish, of the 
pirates and profiteers of business, of the bigots and zealots, 
of the ignoramuses and the mal-educated, in spite of the 
men of all classes who think only in the present or past, 
and whose faces are not turned toward the future. But 
if you do your full duty, if you persist in a determined 
course with an eye single to the people’s welfare, who 
doubts that in time your reward will be a city set on a hill !” 

“I do not doubt it,” exclaimed the doctor, “but your de-- 


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mand is too radical, Dalhart; your proposal runs counter 
to all the sacred traditions of the medical profession !” 

“But we must break away from the past, Forstner,” cried 
Jack. “Men must not be hampered in their present day 
needs by the outworn traditions of yesterday. Your pro- 
fession has not hesitated to make innovations. You do not 
bleed men now, simply because they were bled in the past. 
As surgeons, you do not hesitate to apply the knife to cure 
the sore. And in the matter of the health conditions of our 
community, we face a situation that demands radical treat- 
ment. We face this anomalous situation: while there is 
an ever-increasing number of doctors in our city, there is 
no corresponding decrease in sickness and disease. While 
our city is crowded with medical men, unwell folks by the 
thousand remain unattended. Our sick and diseased poor 
could appropriately paraphrase the words of the ancient 
monarch and lament, ‘Doctors, doctors, all around us, but 
not one to aid !’ And this in the twentieth century of the 
Christian era !” 

“But the men of my profession are very free in their 
charitable ministrations to the poor !” 

“Which leads me to say,” cried Jack, “damn charity!” 
If men only will consent to practice social sanity we will 
get away from that thing called charity. No, there is a 
social disease here that is responsible for the conditions I 
have named; and what we need to do is to find a cure 
for that disease. Let us ask, then, why is it that, while 
disease foments, vermin multiply, and sickness increases, 
those who have been educated and trained by society to 
combat sickness and disease and death sit with folded hands 
in their offices? What is it that ties the hands of the men 
of medicine in our community, while death stalks unchal- 
lenged in our midst? Society zealously equipped her sons 
for service, and why, now, do they idle at their tasks? It 
is because the mal-adjustment of our social machinery com- 
pels it to be so ! In a sense, our physicians now must wait 
for sickness and disease to seek them out. This invitation 


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273 


to mortal combat may come in the shape of a miser’s gold 
or widow’s mite; but it first must come or else our phy- 
sicians are not free and privileged to fight. And the doctor 
must truly be a Christian who does not think more of the 
gold and silver invite than he does of the opportunity to 
oppose his enemy!” 

“I think you do the men of the profession an injustice,” 
protested Forstner; “there are very few doctors who think 
more of the dollar than they do of the privilege of fighting 
disease.” 

“That may be true,” admitted Jack; “we will grant that 
it is. But there is another phase that cannot be overlooked. 
Let us ask how does the summons to oppose the enemy 
most often find our men of medicine? Are they girding 
themselves with the weapons of knowledge and proper 
equipment? Unfortunately, they are found more often in 
inadequately equipped quarters, pouring over poorly kept 
ledgers, anxiously comparing in-come and out-go figures.” 

‘Many of our practitioners undoubtedly find it very hard 
to keep on a comfortable financial basis,” admitted Forst- 
ner. 

“Yes,” exclaimed Jack, “and what we demand is a re- 
adjustment of such abominable social conditions. We in- 
sist that our doctors be relieved of the cancer of economic 
worry by being provided with the certainty of definite 
salaries; and that they be thus set, unhindered, to the task 
of restoring and preserving the public health. The strain 
and uncertainty of fluctuating finances unfits men for ful- 
filling their high missions; and doctors, above all men, 
should have the full freedom to pursue unhampered their 
noble calling. If your life, if the life of a near and dear 
one, were at stake, you unhesitatingly would say so.” 

“But the men of my profession would rise in arms, Dal- 
hart,” cried the young doctor, “if we should attempt such a 
radical change in their social status !” 

“I know,” agreed Jack, “that many physicians would bit- 
terly resent and oppose the change ; but, on the other hand, 
18 


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others would consider the innovation as not unwelcome. 
While many doctors would strenuously demand a continua- 
tion of their present speculative incomes from private sick 
awards, others would welcome the certainty of public sal- 
aries. And why should they not? Are salaries incompat- 
ible with professional dignity ? Are not society’s most hon- 
ored servants salaried men? The men who wear the cap 
and gown and fill the university chairs; who don the judi- 
cial robe; who guide the affairs of state; who lead our 
armies to victory : they’re all salaried men. The Panama 
canal is a monument to the worth and competency of 
salaried men.” 

“But our individual citizens,” exclaimed the doctor, 
“would loudly protest against the change. Those in good 
health would insist that it would be inequitable to tax the 
well man to pay the sick man’s doctor bill.” 

“Only those would protest the change who are too nar- 
row-visioned to see that the sickness of one is a menace to 
the health of all,” insisted Jack. “Others would recognize 
that each one of us is vitally concerned about the health of 
those around us — for our neighbor’s disease may mean our 
death. Truly, in this crowded time, no man lives unto him- 
self alone. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, are han- 
dled by many hands other than our own. We mingle with 
our fellows on the streets, in the cars, the churches, the 
places of amusement, the restaurants, and at every point of 
contact we are subjected to the danger of any disease that 
may be prevalent. At school, the little child from poverty 
alley contacts the one from paradise hill, and the death 
of the latter child may result. More and more are we grow- 
ing in the realization that the welfare of one is the welfare 
of all. And because of this fact, Forstner, I believe the 
majority of our citizens would give the proposed change 
their hearty approval.” 

“But the cost, man,” cried Forstner, “would be out of 
reason! It would take hundreds of thousands of dollars 


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275 


annually to put all our doctors on the public payroll, and 
this would raise taxes enormously !” 

“So it would from a superficial viewpoint,” agreed Jack, 
“but what matters it whether our doctors are paid out of 
private pockets or public purse? Does not the payment 
come, in the end, out of the community’s total wealth ? Be- 
sides, why not expend public funds for positive accomplish- 
ments as well as for negative ones? Our police department, 
which largely is negative in its operation, costs us hundreds 
of thousands of dollars each year. Make the proper expen- 
diture in the positive health department and it would cause 
a decrease of expenditures in the negative police one. Men 
who are in normal health of body and mind seldom com- 
mit crime.” 

“That may be true,” replied Forstner, “but I do not be- 
lieve the saving in one department would justify the heavy 
expenditure in the other.” 

“But, Doctor,” exclaimed Jack, “that is only one phase 
of the many economies involved. You must realize, for in- 
stance, that under conditions now existing, our community 
loses uncounted wealth every day because of the decreased 
productive power of the many citizens among us who are 
in ill-health, and, therefore, of consequent lowered vitality 
and decreased productive capacity. Correct this condition, 
and the increase of wealth resulting alone would pay our 
physicians.” 

“But we do not know that the innovations you propose 
would appreciatively decrease the number of those who are 
in ill-health. You only presume that your plan would re- 
sult in appreciatively better health conditions.” 

“Surely,” exclaimed Jack, “you must believe that a well- 
organized onslaught against sickness and disease engaged 
in by all our doctors in close co-operation would be far more 
effective in results than the present hit and miss method of 
individual action. Besides, there is a more certain reason 
to expect improvement. You know from your own experi- 
ence that, under the present method of private payment of 


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doctor’s bills, the majority of people do -not seek the phy- 
sician or dentist until they are forced to do so by the acute- 
ness of their trouble. Pocketbooks must first be consulted ; 
and only too often financial considerations compel post- 
ponements of the needed health treatment. Socially, this is 
disastrous beyond the possibility of my magnifying it. A 
fire is easily conquered at the start; and so with disease. 
And yet, at this moment there are thousands of disease 
sores in our city threatening contagion because they are not 
being attacked in their incipiency. There are thousands 
of our citizens at this moment refraining from having their 
bodies, or eyes, or nostrils, or teeth properly treated because 
of financial considerations. This would not be so under the 
proposed social arrangement. Need I make the case any 
stronger? Cannot you supply a hundred reasons I have 
omitted?” 

“It is impossible for me to agree with you, Dalhart,” 
cried Forstner; “your proposal is out of all reason for the 
present ! It’s far too radical !” 

Jack did not press his arguments further. He knew 
that “a man convinced against his will is of the same opin- 
ion still and he realized that young Forstner did not have 
the agreeable will to be convinced. There was no course 
to pursue but to wait. But Jack wisely made it a point to 
enlist the further aid of Margaret Innington. He took oc- 
casion to explain to her in complete detail just what his 
plan involved, and he endeavored to place the matter be- 
fore her in the most favorable light. 

“Health,” he pointed out gravely, “undoubtedly is the 
rock of the basis of a people’s welfare and happiness; and 
we must leave nothing undone in our effort to raise the 
health conditions of our community to the highest possible 
standard.” 

“Leave Dr. Forstner to me,” promised Margaret; “you 
just do not understand him. I do not know as I have met 
any one with higher ideals than his. In this matter he does 


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277 


not see our side, simply because of his loyalty to the tra- 
ditions of his profession as he has been trained in it.” 

Not alone in romantic periods of history, but in these 
present days, the love drama between a man and a woman 
often plays an important part in the destiny of some city, 
state or nation. The most critical situations frequently 
turn on the single pivot of a lover's infatuation. And in 
this instance, young Forstner, because of his complete 
adoration of Margaret, was far more willing, and even 
anxious, to see things from the point of view of Margaret, 
than he had been willing to see them from the viewpoint 
of Jack and as explained by the reformer. Margaret had 
complete faith in the worth of Jack’s plan, and, in all sin- 
cerity, she exerted her influence over Forstner. She in- 
sisted that he see the matter as she saw it ; and before many 
weeks had passed he yielded to the extent that he intimated 
that he would at least offer no objection to the proposal of 
Jack if it was made to the whole commission ; that he would 
leave the matter solely to the judgment of his associates. 

This was all that Jack desired. He had sounded the 
views of the other commissioners and knew their attitude 
was entirely favorable ; and he did not hesitate to bring his % 
plan before them for action. As was to be expected, bitter 
opposition did not fail to show itself. Men combat social 
progress as though their very souls were threatened with 
destruction. And at several subsequent sessions of the city 
commission many vitrolic attacks were made, not only up- 
on the new plan proposed, but upon the proponent of it as 
well. But the commissioners knew their city had definitely 
set its face in orientation, and that there must be no turn- 
ing toward the west. The new plan promised an improve- 
ment in the public health, and the commissioners were de- 
termined to give it a trial. 

Accordingly, an ordinance was immediately passed re- 
organizing the health department of the city. And a num- 
ber of doctors, dentists, and specialists rallied to the aid of 
the commissioners with an enthusiasm that made the fu- 


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ture portentious for success. These medical men were im- 
mediately employed by the city and organized into a par- 
tially self-governing health body. This board very soon 
elected officers and adopted rules of procedure. The doc- 
tors then set themselves nobly to the task of battling for the 
betterment of the public health. The older and more skilled 
members of the board were set to duties in the consultation 
and operation rooms ; the younger and less experienced 
were sent to scout for disease and answer emergency calls. 
Those who had special aptitude therefor were assigned to 
the laboratories. The city was divided into health districts, 
and the campaign in many other ways duly systematized. 

In the course of time, every citizen was to undergo a 
thorough examination. In deference to the old practice, 
however, each citizen was still to have the privilege, as far 
as practicable, of choosing his own physician. One glad 
thing the citizens did know : henceforth, they were not to 
be doctored for their dollars, nor operated on at so much 
per cut. Also, where the need was such, a disorder was 
to command the combined skill and intelligence of the whole 
health board. 

In the months succeeding, momentous changes took place 
in the city’s sanitary and health conditions. The most re- 
markable change of all, however, was in the extended vis- 
ion and new consciousness of the physicians themselves. 
And it was with a large measure of delight that Jack lis- 
tened to a confession, in the presence of young Forstner, 
of one of the oldest practicioners in the city, who, in the 
beginning, had strongly opposed his plan. 

“I laid myself down one night,” marvelled this able doc- 
tor, “conscious of a duty only to a score of patients, and 
I waked in the morning with a full city vision. My eyes 
were opened to see things that I had never seen before. 
Habitually I had passed festering piles of filth and un- 
wholesomeness only to ignore the abominations as some- 
thing apart and detached from my consciousness. My duty 
was to individuals, and my sensibilities were hardened and 


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279 


accustomed to conditions purely social. I saw many foul 
and diseased human beings around me, but as they were 
not my patients they were no concern to me. I passed my 
brothers of the profession with only formal or friendly 
greetings, for they had their circles of concern and I had 
mine. 

“But what an awakening with the new day ! What a 
solidarity of thinking and vision replaced the old discon- 
nected unconcern ! Every man, woman, and child in the 
city suddenly became my patient. Every competing brother 
in the profession became my coworker and close comrade 
in a work comprehending the whole community. I was 
transformed into the keeper of my brother's health ! I had 
awakened to a new social consciousness ! My concern now 
is with every cess-pool in the community; with every fes- 
tering mess and muck and mass of garbage, offal and re- 
fuse; with every foul and filthy alley, attic and home; with 
foul water and adulterated food; with rotten meat and 
watered milk ; with foul air and crowded and cramped 
quarters ; with the devitalized fathers, and hungry children ; 
with underfed mothers bewailing dried up nipples, and 
babies ‘drinking formalin in their milk !’ I had been serv- 
ing myself; serving my pocketbook; now I am serving the 
city ; serving the public ; serving humanity, and therefore, I 
am serving God !” 


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CHAPTER XI. 

modeltown’s further progress. 

I 

“Jack — may I call you Jack?” smiled and blushed Mar- 
garet Innington, “I shall not wait another day for you to 
take me to Modeltown !” 

“We shall go instantly !” he gaily replied, ignoring her 
question and slight confusion. “In just one hour we shall 
be viewing the wonders Dad has wrought !” 

On this day, a holiday, Margaret had felt the necessity 
to seek, in flight, safety from Dr. Forstner’s pressing atten- 
tions. In fact, it was because of a queer conscientiousness 
that she was led herself to make the proposal for an after- 
noon with Jack. Early in the morning the doctor had 
pressed urging pleas to spend the afternoon in her company, 
and Margaret, desperate because of attentions she could not 
whole-heartedly receive, had impulsively exclaimed that she 
already had an engagement. She immediately regretted the 
falsehood, but was penitent to the extent only that she de- 
termined to see that she did in fact and in truth have an 
engagement — even if it was necessary to arrange it sub- 
sequent to her declaration. 

Jack and Margaret set out from home overflowing with 
the exuberant spirit of youth. Because of the many en- 
thusiastic distractions of their social work, and of the in- 
sistent joy of the loving services they daily were perform- 
ing, the two young people had been able, after many months 
of vain endeavor to ascertain the whereabouts of their miss- 
ing friends, to throw off a large share of the gloom which 
for so long darkened their spirits. And in spite of the gen- 
erous portion of her leisure time which Margaret yielded 
to Dr. Forstner, she and Jack had drawn together in closer 
comradeship than ever before, and more than ever they de- 
lighted in each other’s company. And on this day it was 
with all the spirit of undertaking a new adventure that they 


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alighted from the cars in the underground station in the 
heart of Modeltown. They made their way to the surface 
and to the outside of the station building, and there the 
young woman stood with clasped hands while she viewed 
with amazement what she saw. 

It is impossible to describe in detail the setting of the 
civic center of Modeltown ; suffice it to say that viewing it 
gave one the feeling of being in beautiful palace grounds. 
The broad plaza-like places between the beautifully de- 
signed buildings were planted with flowers and shrubbery ; 
while the air was moist with the spray of many fountains, 
and redolent with the perfume of innumerable blossoms. 

“The whole place is like this,” exclaimed Jack joyously; 
“the town is hidden in magnificent park grounds !” 

“Oh, why haven’t you brought me here before?” she re- 
proached him, enraptured. 

“Dad’s been adding something new, every day,” he 
laughed happily, “and the work really has only just begun. 
Just a few of the buildings have been entirely completed — - 
and the future citizens of the town have not yet begun to 
arrive.” 

He pointed out the municipal building, the public library, 
a few other structures, and then exclaimed: “Come, I’ll 
show you our immense modern department store.” 

“When you enter here,” he continued, as they stood in 
the door of the nearly completed building, “you will not be 
immediately overwhelmed by a rush of clerks striving to 
sell you something that you do not want. Service, and not 
selling, will be the mission of this store. No glib-tongued 
salesman will rush forward to attempt with seductive 
phrases to sell you a gown you probably would weep over 
when you got home. And here, there will be no sales, 
especially credit ones, to over-persuaded customers who 
sometimes are unable to pay for what they buy without hav- 
ing to sacrifice some of the wholesome necessities of life. 
In fact, there will be no credit selling in Modeltown.” 

“Do you not believe in charge accounts?” 


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“No,” he asserted, positively. “I believe our present 
system of credit selling is one of the greatest curses of our 
generation. It is as inimical to the honesty and moral 
stamina of our people as anything of which I know. Be- 
sides, it’s thoroughly uneconomic; for it entails an army of 
bookkeepers, credit-men, collectors, mercantile agents, and 
many others who might be engaged in productive pursuits, 
and the burden of their support thereby taken from the 
shoulders of their fellows. But the most abominable ineq- 
uity and iniquity of the system, possibly, is that it compels 
the honest members of society to support those uncounted 
numbers'of dishonest ones who buy and use but who never 
pay for what they buy.” 

‘I’ve always heard,” she contended, “that credit is the 
very backbone of business.” 

“That’s an exploded fiction,” he insisted. “At least, if 
credit is the backbone of business, it accounts for much of 
the crookedness of business. The system may have worked 
well enough in the days of simple trading, and in the days 
when men could not lose themselves by merely changing 
their street address ; but in these days, the abuses of it, and 
the inequity of it, have become so obnoxious and so evi- 
dent that a reaction has set in against it.” 

“I do not know what effect the abolition of the system 
would have on larger commercial transactions,” she argued, 
“but I’m sure that any change would be oppressive to those 
who cannot afford to buy except on small installments.” 

“It’s wrong in principle,” he maintained — “mortgaging 
the future for the present — that’s what credit is. Besides, 
we’re slowly awakening to the shame of a beggar class of 
citizens whose purchases must be made so much down and 
so much per week.” 

While continuing the argument, they succeeded in locating 
his father’s automobile and started for a drive out one of 
the broad, hard-surfaced boulevards extending far into the 
country. Here and there, aligned along the boulevard 
they saw a number of beautiful structures. 


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“Dad is having constructed only a few homes, because 
most folks prefer to plan their own ones.” 

“But those I see are beautiful !” exclaimed Margaret. 

“Yes,” he assented, “and yet, they are all standardized. 
While the citizens will have the privilege of planning their 
homes largely to suit themselves, they will be restricted — 
like the boy with the building blocks — to the use of cer- 
tain standard forms. The experts who are assisting Dad, 
however, have a wonderful assortment of forms that can 
be assembled in an almost inconceivable number of ways. 
All buildings will be constructed of concrete and stone, and, 
of course, will be practically fire-proof. Each home will be 
provided with every convenience in the way of air-heating 
and cooling devices ; ventilating systems ; sleeping porches : 
built in vermin-proof food cabinets; electrical lighting, 
cooking, cleaning, etc.” 

“That’s all very nice,” she said, “but I should think the 
folks would get lonesome living so far from town?” 

“Lonesome?” he laughed; “why don’t you know that the 
passion of humanity is for close-living to nature — as well 
as to one another? These folks out here with their tele- 
phones, automobiles, automatic interurbans, and automatic 
delivery tubes, will be practically right in town. And, best 
of all, they’ll be in the country, too. Each home will have 
its truck garden, fruit patch, and chicken, cow and pig 
places.” 

He turned the car suddenly, and drove down an incline 
which led to one of the freight stations on the automatic in- 
terurban. 

“These stations,” he explained, “are placed at conveni- 
ent intervals; and during certain hours of the mornings 
and afternoons, small express cars will come racing along 
to pick up the fruit, truck, milk, etc., produced along the 
line, and deliver it to the central receiving station in town. 
There it will be checked by the invoices accompanying it, 
credited to the proper shippers, and then assembled and 
reshipped to markets in the larger cities.” 


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“I should think the express traffic would interfere with 
the passenger service,” she suggested. 

“The volume will not be sufficient for that,” he replied. 
“You see, the larger farms and ranches will not be along the 
boulevards; they will be located over adjacent to the rail- 
roads.” 

They presently drove back to town and stopped at one 
of the partially completed factory buildings. 

“This is one of Dad’s own branch factories,” he an- 
nounced; “that is, I say Dad’s, but of course it will be a 
democratic industrial institution — like all our establish- 
ments.” 

“You mean,” she said, “that the employes will have a 
voice in its management?” 

“There will be no employes,” he said. “The workers 
will be co-owners of the business, and each one will have a 
voice in choosing the officers and managers, and in fix- 
ing the hours and regulations of employment. And why 
should they not? Is democracy in industry any the less 
feasible than democracy in government? Or, is there any 
greater reason why a few men should have the autocratic 
control of their fellows in the one form than in the other? 
The fact that men must work or starve — unless they are 
of the privileged class — has enabled the barons of business 
to use this physical fact to enforce their hard-driving, man- 
consuming, regulations to an extent that is making our pres- 
ent system of industry no longer endurable by red-blooded 
men.” 

“But in these factories, who will own the capital?” she 
asked with sudden thought. 

“The operators themselves, and the Servers,” he replied, 
and he added amusedly, “I’m afraid you’ve been devoting 
yourself too ardently to your own branch of service, and 
have not taken time to comprehend our whole mission.” 

“I know,” she protested, “that we’re pledged to the 
democratization of industry ; but I’ve given little thought to 
its practical working out.” 


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285 


“We’ll furnish the original capital where necessary, and 
let the workers gradually purchase the stock.” 

“But that will be a tremendous undertaking,” she gasped. 

‘Not as tremendous as you’d imagine,” he maintained; 
“for as fast as our capital is released from one establish- 
ment, we’ll put it in another. And besides, we’ll not carry 
the whole burden. We’ll accomplish much through our 
educational propaganda in the way of inducing voluntary 
conversion of industries into operative ownership. And if 
we succeed in winning the control of our state govern- 
mental machinery, we may provide some method of assist- 
ing the workmen gradually to acquire the ownership of in- 
dustries ; somewhat as the farmer, through the national loan 
banks, are coming into possession of the land.” 

“Do you think operative ownership of industry would 
put an end to the social unrest of today?” 

“No, I do not,” he asserted; “there’s something beyond 
the mere democratization of industry. But I do believe the 
latter step would be an evolutionary one toward the further 
goal.” 

“Do you think society will take the intermediate step?” 

“I do not know,” he said. “It may be that the disruption 
of revolution will break on us before the slower method of 
adjustment can be tried.” 

“But do you believe in revolution?” 

“Revolution sometimes is necessary to explode the jam — 
thereby permitting evolution to run its true course,” he 
replied, earnestly, “but revolution should be resorted to 
only as a last resort. While it is not given to man to see 
very far along his pathway, yet, each forward step lights 
his further way; and now, if we only would begin to de- 
mocratize our industries, we soon would see our clearer 
course ahead.” 

They then drove to another section of the town, and 
stopped before a large structure of imposing architecture. 

“This we call ‘Inventor’s Hall,’ ” he announced. “It is 
here that those in the community with a passion for origi- 


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nating, creating, discovering, will dream and plan and con- 
sult. In the buildings nearby are the workshops, where 
they will endeavor to transmute their dreams into actu- 
alities/' 

“But who will own these buildings?" 

“The Servers own them for the present; later they will 
be owned by the municipality. Very soon, a society of in- 
ventors will be formed here, and the use and control of the 
buildings will be entrusted to the society." 

“But who will make up that society? How can all these 
elements be assumed so confidently?" 

“Those inventive geniuses who will be attracted here by 
the exceptional opportunities offered," Jack explained. 
“Those who come will organize themselves, elect officers 
and enact rules and regulations. Any inventor obligating 
himself to observe the mandates of the establishment will 
have the privilege of becoming a member. The use of the 
buildings and machinery will be free to all members; and 
the individuals will be required to pay only for whatever 
material and labor they may use." 

“But there will be wear and tear on the machinery and 
buildings," she suggested ; “who will bear the upkeep ex- 
penses ?" 

“The society will pay such expenses from its treasury. 
Of course, there will be no immediate funds on hand, but 
in time funds will be accumulated through an income from 
the small royalties each member will obligate himself to 
pay from his successful inventions." 

“The only advantage then," she commented, “to the mem- 
bers of the society from the arrangement here, will be the 
free use of the buildings and machinery?" 

“Oh, no," he objected, “there will be many other ad- 
vantages. For instance, when the society has accumulated 
funds in its treasury, those funds will be used in many 
instances to provide labor and material for those who are 
unable to pay for such things themselves. The society will 
have a method of co-operation whereby any member will be 


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287 


at liberty to submit detailed drawings and specifications of 
his prospective invention to the whole membership; and it 
will then be determined to what extent the society will fi- 
nance the working out of the idea submitted. Of course, 
those submitting their ideas under such an arrangement 
will be protected in their rights. But other members will 
have the privilege of suggesting changes and improvements ; 
and they, too, will be protected if their suggestions are em- 
bodied in the final working out of the idea first presented.” 

“It seems to me,” she observed doubtfully, “that many 
controversies would arise as to the relative values to be 
placed on the component ideas finally embodied in the 
realized invention.” 

“Controversies undoubtedly will arise,” he agreed, “but 
the records will be in black and white, and failure to do 
justice to any party will not be through lack of any proper 
evidence, but solely through the inability of human intel- 
lects to meet in perfect agreement. And besides, the spirit 
of those gathered here will not be a contentious spirit, but a 
co-operative one. That is the surest safeguard there will 
be. Service, and not self, will be the guiding star of their 
dreams. To make the world fuller and richer for man by 
interpreting, co-ordinating, and combining the forces of 
nature, will be , their ruling passion. With such a motive 
moving them, they will be able to work out a pre-invention 
scheme of registration of models, drawings and specifica- 
tions, that will insure each inventive genius the honor of 
his creative faculty, or of his laborious pursuit of an idea. 
Such a voluntary pre-inventing, pre-patent scheme will not 
be perfect; but it will enable men with a greater measure 
of safety, to seek the counsels of their brothers in solving 
perplexing problems. Think what it will mean to have a 
whole company of inventive minds co-operating and com- 
bining to solve an intricate problem?” 

“Yes,” she agreed, “I can now see many wonderful ad- 
vantages of the arrangement to be worked out here. As it 
is now, inventors must hide their thoughts and plans; and 


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sometimes these rare men are secretive and suspicious to 
an extent that I believe destroys their normality/' 

“And in many instances/' he added, “great valuable ideas 
that might be used for humanity's advancement now expire 
with the poor inventors who, struggling alone and in secret, 
are never quite able to reach the always hoped for point of 
the realization of their dreams." 

Leaving Inventor’s Hall, and entering their car, they 
drove along curved roadways bordered by beautiful trees, 
shrubbery and flowers, until Jack brought the machine to 
a stop before another beautifully designed structure. 

“This," he announced, “we call ‘Author's Hall.' Here the 
men who are responsible for the pen being mightier than 
the sword will have their living and working quarters." 

He led her through the building, pointing out the de- 
tailed equipment of the place for the purpose for which it 
was intended. Margaret went into ecstasies of delight over 
what she saw, and this exuberance caused Jack a natural 
glow of pride. 

“Authors," he declared, “are a breed of men who some- 
times like to live and eat and work and sleep in one and 
the same cubby -hole; so you see how well we’ve planned 
their quarters for them. We’ve separated their living and 
working quarters, at least, by no more than a partition. 
And yet, as all walls are practically sound proof, when the 
artillery of typewriters are in action during the night time, 
it will not mean the disturbance of anyone who may, at that 
time, be enjoying rest and sleep. And near each bed will 
be placed a dictaphone, and, therefore, no night inspira- 
tions will be lost for lack of an easy and convenient method 
of preservation. The dreaming author will simply have to 
turn on his side and speak aloud his thoughts," he asserted, 
with a laugh. “And then when he awakes, whether it be 
in the morning or at night, the cafe downstairs will quickly 
serve him his meals. No convenience, as you see, is lack- 
ing. Oh, you’ll see, we’ll develop a new school of litera- 
ture. At the elbow of each will be a telephone that will 


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speedily secure from the public library by automatic de- 
livery any book that is desired. In another part of the 
building quarters have been provided for public typists and 
stenographers for those writers who can afford such lux- 
uries” 

“It's magnificent” she exclaimed, and then she suddenly 
reproached him : “But this is only for men ! Don’t you 
know there are ‘Joans’ too, of the pen?” 

He pointed out a window to a brilliant dome several 
blocks distant, and remarked : “My favorite writer is a 
woman.” 

She looked through the window at the distant structure 
for a moment thoughtfully, and then exclaimed anxiously, 
“But tell me, have not you been too extravagant? Haven’t 
you budded so expensively that those who most need these 
surroundings will be least able to afford them?” 

“On the contrary,” he protested, “we have been cautious 
not to make the investment too heavy. You will find little 
marble and maple here; you will find few luxuries, but 
every convenience. No, the great mission of Modeltown 
is to free men from the excessive burden of economic pres- 
sure, to the end that they may give full play to their intel- 
lectual and artistic talents.” 

“I am just beginning to realize,” she said thoughtfully, 
“how wholly absorbed I’ve been in my own branch of serv- 
ice, and how little I’ve comprehended all that has come 
before us for consideration and decision.” 

“I had no idea,” he returned, frankly, “that any one of 
our comrades had so little acquaintance with our under- 
taking here.” 

“But how can one keep in touch with everything,” she 
protested, “when our activities are so extensive, and be- 
coming so involved? You’ve often pictured to me the pos- 
sibilities of Modeltown; but things are different from what 
I’d dreamed they could be. Your father indeed has wrought 
wonders.” 

“So the future dwellers here will think when they come to 
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take up their abode,” he replied, eagerly. “To many, it will 
mean a wonderful transformation in their living. Many 
will come from the most destitute circumstances to what 
to them will seem a veritable paradise of luxury. And to 
think,” he cried, “that the whole earth could be made so, 
if men only collectively would will that it should be so ! 
Men will come here who are now working from ten to 
twelve hours a day simply to keep body and soul together. 
Here, they may accomplish the same result with less than 
one-half the time in labor, and are saved an immeasurable 
agony of spirit.” 

“But just why will that be?” she asked. 

“In the first place,” he replied, “the workers in this com- 
munity will not have to support a small army of useless 
middle-men and swivel-chair parasites in addition to caring 
for themselves. Which will be not unlike a man trudging 
through life with two other men on his back suddenly drop- 
ping one of his burdens off. And as the hours of work in 
the industries here will be scheduled in short-time shifts, a 
laborer will be able, after doing his small bit in the factory 
each day, to hasten by automatic interurban to his own 
country home, and there, surrounded by a garden of his 
own vegetables, an orchard of his own fruit, by cows and 
chickens, he will be able to look up and to thank God that 
he has dropped the second burden off his back !” 

“But the town will not hold those flocking here for such 
relief !” 

“The doors of the town will not be open to everyone,” 
he said. “We shall sell property, and provide employment, 
only to those who are really in sympathy with our move- 
ment. The dwellers in Modeltown must be men imbued 
with a passion for unselfish progress ; men whose influence 
will go abroad to make for the betterment of others. For 
instance, many writers will come here where, by doing 
their bit each day in some industry, they will provide a liv- 
ing for themselves while wielding their pens for social bet- 
terment. They will be of that class of writers whose pro- 


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ductions are largely unacceptable to the conventional pub- 
lications of the country, and to meet their needs we will 
establish here a co-operative printing establishment. We 
will seek to make this place a center for forward-looking 
literature that is not now desired by regular publishers.” 

They now turned away to seek Jack's father; for Mar- 
garet had declared she would not leave the town until she 
had made the acquaintance of the elder Dalhart. 

“Wherever we see the largest number of men at work, 
there we’ll find Dad!” exclaimed Jack, “for he is a human 
dynamo transmitting superadded energy to the energy of 
other men, and, believe me, it takes a large number of men 
to consume the extra energy Dad sheds !” 

True to Jack’s predictions, they found his father direct- 
ing the efforts of half a hundred rough laboring men. In 
spite of this outdoor supervisory work, however, Mr. Dal- 
hart was dressed in faultless attire. 

“Dad still would be a gentleman in a ditch,” exclaimed 
Jack, when Margaret remarked, as they drew nearer to him, 
what a fine appearance his father made. But when she 
stood in the presence of the elder Dalhart she forgot every- 
thing about him except his piercing gray eyes. She in- 
stantly had the feeling of being bisected and cross-sected 
from head to foot; and yet, not for the flash of a second 
did his eyes linger in a discourteous inspection. Neverthe- 
less, Margaret breathed an inward sigh of relief when she 
finally concluded that the older man’s estimate of herself 
was not unsatisfactory, for he was soon seeking by the most 
cordial expressions to open their closer friendship. In fact, 
in a few minutes she was perfectly at ease in the elder Dal- 
hart’s engaging presence, and feeling that she had known 
him always. 

She did not ask him about Modeltown; she did not have 
to do so. Nor could she have stood by his side without 
catching the contagion of his enthusiasm as the author of 
all she had viewed during the day pictured in glowing terms 
the present and prospective beauties and glories of the 


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works to which he was giving shape and form. Margaret 
realized that she was standing in the presence of one who 
literally was erecting his own monument. But if the build- 
ing of that monument was being carried on with all the 
solemn reverence for a last work, it was being done, never- 
theless, with the joyous spirit of new-found youth. So en- 
thusiastic and delightful was the portrayal by Dalhart 
senior of the scenes spreading before them, that Margaret 
was led to reproach Jack, insisting that she had been cheated 
in having had him for her guide during the afternoon, rather 
than his father. 

“I shall come again to steal you away from your work 
for a whole day/’ she cried, with a luminous smile, as they 
bid the elder man good-by. 

“See that you come soon/’ he laughed, as he dropped her 
hand, and his eyes softened as he watched her taking Jack’s 
arm. 

“Be careful, young woman, that boy has a way of not 
standing hitched !” he cried gaily. 

Margaret smiled up at Jack with great color, as she 
cried back: “Who wants a man that’ll stand hitched? Jack’s 
chariot is fastened to a flashing star!” 

Dalhart senior waved his hand in glad response to this 
pleasing answer, and as he turned to his work he smiled 
to think that the boy still had some of the old man’s good 
judgment. 

In order to make a fitting end to a perfect day, the young 
couple decided to drive into the country, along a broad 
road paralleling one of the railroads. When they had trav- 
eled several miles they came to where an immense tract of 
land had been subdivided into smaller tracts of varying 
sizes. 

“These are our ‘unit farms’, ” Jack explained to his com- 
panion. “They vary in size in order that the farmers who 
come here may make selections in proper accord with the 
labor capacity of themselves and families. Here there will 


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be ownership of the fee in most instances, but co-operative 
ownership of many implements and power plants/’ 

“Rural life is the grandest living after all!” exclaimed 
Margaret in abrupt and joyous response, while lifting her 
face to the delightful breezes blowing over the fragrant, 
untilled prairie land. 

Indeed, from the rapturous delight which Margaret had 
exhibited throughout the day, and from the unalloyed en- 
joyment she now was evidencing in their drive along the 
country highway, one hardly would have surmised that she 
carried in her heart an almost constant suffering. 

Certainly no one would have guessed how recent had 
been her tragic separation from the suitor, who, more than 
any other, had won her deepest affections. Perhaps she 
was experiencing a growing faith that there is, somewhere 
and somehow, a full compensation for every hurt in the 
heart, for every loss that causes suffering. 


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CHAPTER XII. 

IN THE BIG CITY. 

I 

And where had the tortuous roads of destiny taken the 
two who so tragically had disappeared from their homes 
and friends? Where were Victor Rodney and Courtney 
Chester hidden so securely that all the searching efforts of 
their friends had been of no avail? 

Victor Rodney had fled from home without any fixed 
plans for the future. Born, as he had been, so high up the 
ladder of fortune, the sudden drop to the bottom had left 
him stunned and bruised and unable to adjust himself dog- 
gedly to begin again the re-ascent. Instead, the dismayed 
man, unable to gather his shaken faculties, had fled blindly 
— broken-hearted and broken-spirited. Yet, being wholly 
without traveling plans, it almost was a certainty that, as 
time wore on, the needle of his course should gravitate to- 
ward that Wonder City of the East. And, when at last he 
reached that great place of concentrated -wealth, was it 
mockery that he should, for the first time in his life, find 
himself without a penny in his pocket? 

Hungry? Yes! At last he knew the sensation! God! 
what a ghastly feeling — to have the gnaw of hunger in the 
belly, while pride still reigned in the heart! Beg? No! 
Work? Yes. Where? Victor had not realized that the 
question can remain unanswered in this day and time ! He 
would not have believed that there are periods when men 
by the uncounted thousands are out of employment. But 
now, after he had trod the weary lengths of many streets, 
and had suffered the stings of innumerable turndowns, he 
still was unemployed — and each hour growing more hun- 
gry and more faint with a ghastly sickness. 

“And He had no place where to lay His head!” Was 
it in a delirium that the familiar scripture reference came 
to him? The dismayed man, under the stress of a fever 


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stricken mentality, lifted his eyes to the small patch of sky 
permitted to view by the tall structures surrounding him and 
strained his vision in the effort to penetrate beyond the 
silent twinkling of the stars and to read there the answers 
to the many unanswerable questions that were troubling 
his mind! Who is God? Is God sitting up there beyond 
the stars in the ethereal blue, as children sometimes be- 
lieve in Sunday School? Is the Son of Man who had no 
place where to lay His head while on earth, now up there 
sitting at the right hand of His Father? Is He prepar- 
ing many radiant mansions for a chosen number? Does 
God care when men are hungry and sick, and miserable 
and discouraged? Would God hear him and aid him, if he 
would utter a prayer? 

“Oh, God, help me !” was suddenly wrung from the 
wretched man’s soul, and involuntarily framed by his quiv- 
ering lips. 

“Say, beau, yer better not hang to that seat too long, 
or the cop’ll getcher.” 

Victor did not reply to the friendly advice of the ragged 
little news-vender, but only gazed at him with weariness 
that had almost become a delirium. 

“Yer lookin’ like yer sick,” continued the urchin, cock- 
ing his head. 

“I’m tired, sonny,” the distressed man managed to> reply. 
“I’ve been looking for work, but could not find any.” 

“Yer lyin’ now,” retorted the youngster, with brutal 
frankness ; “anybody as wants to can get work now.” 

“I’ve answered every ad in your paper,” exclaimed the 
man, “but they all wanted the kind of workman I’m not.” 

“Gee, yer don’t fool wit the papers when y’want a hurry 
job! Go to the ’ployment place — they’re grabbin’ for guys 
to work!” 

Victor had deliberately shunned the employment offices. 
Pride had kept him away for a time ; and when at last dire 
necessity had driven him to the door of a branch bureau, he 
had seen a motley crew of mixed humanity crowded with- 


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in, and had turned away in revulsion. In his ignorance 
he had gone to the laboring rather than to the commercial 
branch of the employment service. 

“Tell me, sonny, is there any place in this city where a 
man can sleep, besides in the jail, when his pockets are 
empty ?” 

"I'll show ya,” responded the news urchin, heartily. 

A few but crowded years of street experience had en- 
abled the boy safely to diagnose the man’s case and quickly 
to prescribe the needed remedy. He led the way to the 
nearest mission, and very soon left the exhausted man in 
the hands of a Salvation Army worker. 

And then, while Victor sat at a board satisfying his phy- 
sical needs, his mind again became filled with vague ratio- 
cinative mediations concerning the whyness of things. 
Though he had almost reached the point of depletion where 
reasoning becomes inaccurate and largely fantastic, he still 
was able clearly to lay many premises, and to draw a few 
definite conclusions. Undeniably, he was being fed, and 
very soon would be provided with a place where to lay 
his head — literally by the One who had had no place where 
to lay His own head ! For the hospitality, aid and sym- 
pathy that now was being extended to him, was being ex- 
tended in the name of the Christ who had died on the Cross 
twenty centuries before. And, somehow, in his present 
lowly surroundings, the young man was able to give a fix- 
idity in his mind to the reality of that Christ, and to the 
reality of that Cross, that he never had been able to afford 
them through any reactions from the ornamented preach- 
ings of ministers in magnificent churches ! In those splen- 
did edifices he had left at ease, and in good form, but he 
always had felt a detachment and an antagonism to his 
surroundings. Yet, had the thought occurred to him at 
those times that he ever would be mingling with the poly- 
glot assemblage of unkempt personages gathered in the 
mission, it would have caused him a sickening nausea ! 
Now, in fact, no detached egoism caused him to feel any 


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abhorrence to the not-cleanliness with which he was so 
closely contacting. In his physical weariness and mental 
confusion, he felt a sort of oneness with the crowd around 
him. 

When he had finished eating and had reached his bunk, 
though his waking ratiocinations did not continue long 
thereafter, his restless sleep, nevertheless, was full of fur- 
ther mental disturbances. 

II. 

Unlike her unfortunate friend, Courtney Chester had left 
home with well defined intentions. Though at first she 
had been completely overwhelmed by the sudden catastro- 
phe that had befallen her, she soon had recovered the usual 
calm composure of her faculties, and had been able to 
formulate a definite course of action. In the few crises 
which had occurred in her life, Courtney had been able 
always to see God’s hand, and she always had said : “Thy 
will be done.” 

Under the circumstances of her leaving, it was natural 
that the young woman, too, should seek that wilderness of 
many peoples where tired souls may lose themselves. She 
had no trembling fear of the future ; her faith in God and in 
herself were all-sufficient. She was an expert needle- 
worker — had always delighted and nursed a pride in this 
womanly talent — and now, she expected the needle to be 
her support. 

On arriving in the big city, she was fortunate in immedi- 
ately securing employment with a fashionable modiste; 
though in an insignificant capacity. The wages were dis- 
appointingly small, and the hours of work exceedingly long. 
The combination of small earnings with the high cost of 
life’s necessities caused her to seek living quarters a con- 
siderable distance from her place of employment, and in a 
section that was over-crowded with low-wage workers. 

Courtney adapted herself to her new condition with real 
fortitude; and accepted her reversed fortune as an oppor- 


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tunity for widening her philosophy and understanding of 
life. It was through God’s working, she veritably believed, 
that she had been forced to this new perspective from which 
to view His world, and it was her bounden duty to see all 
things in this spirit. Consequently, as the weeks passed, 
she did not hesitate to make the necessary rearrangements 
in her mental furnishings that were occasioned and re- 
quired by the many new phases of life which she saw on all 
sides. 

The most radical adjustment she was required to make 
was a replacement of her old philosophy of un-reality with 
a sterner philosophy of reality. Food and clothes, heat and 
cold, rain and shine, work and leisure, these became un- 
yielding realities to her now. “Man does not live by bread 
alone,” she hitherto had accepted in almost a literal sense; 
for bread had never been a problem in her house. But 
here the many tragic sights she saw convinced her that 
bread is life itself. The old vanities faded fast before the 
harsh realities of her present condition. Rain at home had 
brought its recompense of an agreeable book and a com- 
fortable chair; here it meant a sloppy way to work, and 
dark and stuffy working quarters. Sunshine at home had 
been the occasion of joyous outdoor life, with long and 
pleasant motor rides ; here it was only the occasion of an 
increased hunger to be once again free and uncaged. 

So when the fashionable dames came for their fine 
gowns, the royal robes which Courtney had worshipped and 
still loved with all her raptuous woman nature — though 
she did not envy her sisters, she began to ask herself more 
and more why the happiness of these women should be 
founded on the hard toil of those around her in the shop 
who, through the long hours, were so deftly plying their 
fingers for bread. 

One day a bevy of society girls came to the shop clamor- 
ing to be arrayed in the most exquisitely designed gowns — 
sleeveless, neckless, and cut to the knee, — for their church 
was planning a charity bazaar for the poor! Courtney’s' 


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head dropped a little lower over the work she w r as doing, 
while memory carried her back the short space of time 
to the charity bazaars in which she had delighted to par- 
ticipate while arrayed in costly gowns. 

But, as yet, Courtney still was on the middle cliffs of 
life; and she still held tenaciously to her middle-cliff phil- 
osophy. What is, is God’s will; and in time patience and 
prayer will bring their perfect reward. There was no oc- 
casion as yet for any great revolt in her nature; for as yet 
there was no threatening danger of a slip to the lower sands 
— to where one struggles helplessly, hopelessly, pitifully, 
against utter submergence ! 


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CHAPTER XIII. 

MUNICIPAL ADJUSTMENTS. 

I. 

During the many months which had elapsed since Jack 
Dalhart first had united with them, the Servers had made 
splendid headway in extending their activities throughout 
the state. They had succeded in establishing branches of 
their enterprises in all of the larger cities ; and had acquired 
control of ten additional daily newspapers. Their influ- 
ence already was beginning to be forcefully felt in the af- 
fairs of the state. And there was beginning to be apparent 
a division of sentiment among the people, which later was 
to divide the citizenship into two opposing camps : the one 
comprising those elements which stand boldly for equality 
and righteousness; the other those elements holding stead- 
fast to the old traditions tending towards inequality and 
abuses. 

A unification of all the forces of greed and evil began 
slowly to be formed to oppose — as was proclaimed — the 
further inroads of socialistic heresies within the state. This 
coalition was being composed as such combinations are, of 
those elements whose continued existence depends on their 
joining hands whenever the necessity arises. The denizens 
of vice began to link hands with the plutocrats of property; 
and these had to do their bidding the dollar-worshipping 
elements of the press, the pulpit and the politicians. 

Vituperation, abuse, and ridicule began to be hurled at 
the Servers and at those who held with them. But this 
mode of warfare was not being returned in kind; for 
though Jack Dalhart himself was aggressively pugnacious, 
he was being guided by the saner counsels of his comrades. 
To lead, and not to attempt to drive men, was their set- 
tled plan of action. While they were organized to combat 
evil and injustice with relentless vigor, they were de- 
termined that it should not be done with a spirit of intol- 


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erance. For them, the days of the inquisition, the days of 
burning witches at the stake, were in the past, forever. 
They intended, rather, with educational propaganda, 
through press, pulpit, pamphlet, and on the platform, and 
especially by precept and example in every line of life’s 
endeavor, steadily to point the better way. 

During this time, the development of Modeltown went 
forward with astonishing rapidity. Jack had planned bet- 
ter than he knew when he had set Industry in the very 
midst of Agriculture. Here the producer and the consumer 
of foodstuffs almost were one. No speculating middle- 
men, and no intricate machinery of distribution, boosted 
prices skyward ; and consequently living was inexpensive in 
Modeltown. Jack quickly took the lesson to heart, and 
proceeded to extend its workings; he planned to bring to 
the town as many as possible of such industries as would 
supply the all-around needs of the citizens. 

The population of the town had increased with astonish- 
ing rapidity. To hav„e all the necessaries, conveniences 
and comforts of life at comparatively small cost; to labor 
only such hours, practically, as one desired, to devote the 
rest of one’s time to one’s chosen calling — these were the 
magnets which were drawing men to the town as fast as 
they would be accommodated in gainful pursuits. 

The propaganda which had been sent out to attract citi- 
zens, had been designed to interest those only whose hearts 
beat strong for the uplift of humanity. And such were 
those that came — hungry for the new adventure. Authors, 
artists, inventors, and men who loved rural life but who 
needed to labor in the city, these came as fast as word 
reached them over the country of the new town of dreams 
where men could satisfy their physicial needs in a few 
hours of labor each day, and be left to expend their sur- 
plus energies as they choose. 

The successful realization of their undertaking at Model- 
town had wonderfully strengthened the influence of the 
Servers in their home city nearby, and they had been able 


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there to pursue a course of radical social reconstruction 
supported by an ever-increasing number of their fellow citi- 
zens. The proven wisdom of the change from private to 
public health service had likewise developed an increase of 
sentiment tremendously favorable to those who so loyally 
were endeavoring to make welfare, rather than wealth, the 
ruling passion of their community. 

The ready acceptance by the populace of the change in 
health service had demonstrated the adaptability of the 
people to social reforms. The acquiescence in the new 
adjustment not only had been unanimous outside of a few 
ultra egoists — but there had been such an added enthusi- 
astic appreciation of the plan that the citizens soon had 
been set aglow with a desire to raise the health standard of 
their city to the highest possible point. 

Young Doctor Forstner, with broad liberality of mind, 
had been among others to surrender his prejudices when he 
caught the contagion of his fellows; and this city official 
had quickly demonstrated the completness of his loyalty 
by assuming the leadership of the new health movement. 
Under his urging, the voters did not hesitate to approve 
a proposition to build a municipal hospital, and a magnifi- 
cent structure was at once started in course of construc- 
tion. The young doctor also headed a committee from the 
health board which undertook a minute survey of the san- 
itary conditions of the city. This group very soon was 
astounded by the many evil conditions found to exist. 
Thousands of homes were found to be without toilet, bath, 
and even water facilities, and in some sections, conditions 
of filth unbelievable were exposed to public view for the 
first time. 

The aroused citizenship, influenced by the cry, “The 
disease of one may mean the death of others,” were led to 
give quick approval to the many strict regulations subse- 
quently issued by the health board under the authority of 
the city commission. According to these regulations, every 
home in the city was required to be immediately provided 


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with adequate toilet, bath and water facilities, and required, 
also, to be completely screened. The prices of the neces- 
sary materials were fixed by the city; and the city under- 
took, to a large extent, the supervision of the improve- 
ments. Thus the people were not to be left, as they so 
often are, the helpless prey of merciless profiteering supply 
men. And where it was found that the citizens were un- 
able themselves to meet the expense of the required im- 
provements, the necessary supplies were being furnished by 
the city, to be paid for in small installments. 

Some sections were found to be past redemption by the 
ordinary methods of improvement; and here again young 
Forstner assumed intelligent leadership. He undertook an 
exhaustive study of the problem and then appeared before 
his associates with the demand that they take the advanced 
step necessary and apply a radical remedy. He proposed 
that, following the example of many European cities, those 
sections of the city where crowded, reeking, dangerous, 
fire-trap tenements and shacks constituted a standing men- 
ace to the public health and safety, as well as a continuous 
eye-sore, be completely razed, and that on the ground thus 
cleared, the city have constructed suitable model dwellings 
to be sold on reasonable payments to the working classes. 

Doctor Forstner’s radical proposal, of course, brought 
forth a wild clamor of opposition from many of the inter- 
ested propety owners, and the loud cry “Confiscation !” 
instantly was flung in the faces of the city fathers. But 
the legal advisors of the city held that the step lawfully 
could be taken under the police and eminent domain sec- 
tions of the constitution; and the commissioners, supported 
by the aroused sentiment of the people, authorized Forst- 
ner to proceed with the condemnation of the dangerous and 
offending structures. 

“Truly, the Servers have set our city in social orienta- 
tion, and already I see bright beams flecking the dawn;” 
cried Margaret Innington, in ecstatic enthusiasm, when Dr. 
Forstner reported the last step that had been decided on. 


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“Yes, the Servers undoubtedly deserve all the credit,” he 
generously confessed; “for without the urging leadership 
of such unselfish crusaders our city would never have 
reached this point in its progress and emancipation.” 

“And the encouraging part,” exclaimed Margaret, “is 
that each forward step taken lays the predicate for a still 
further one.” 

“Yes, with you insatiate people demanding it,” laughed 
Forstner. “As I see it, the chief utility of your organiza- 
tion as an instrument for social betterment lies in the fact 
that you quickly can capitalize the favorable inclination 
aroused by one forward move and use it to hasten further 
progressive action. Without your organization quickly to 
capitalize aroused sentiment, that sentiment soon would 
subside without ever having been expressed in positive 
terms of action.” 

“You are generous in your approbation of the Servers — 
as usual,” smiled Margaret, “but deep in your heart, I know 
you feel some fundamental distrust of us.” 

“And why do you say that ?” 

“Because you have indicated it to be true. You approve 
of us so far and no further,” she said, with indefinate mean- 
ing. 

It was the first time they ever had even approached an 
open discussion of his attitude toward the Servers. Both 
recognized it was uncertain ground. 

“The Service organization is young yet;” he said tenta- 
tively; “it’s worth has not been proven by the test of time.” 

“And you are not willing to accept our future on faith,” 
she declared. 

“It is not for me to sit in judgment of the Servers,” he 
replied; and at once sought to give an impersonal turn to 
the conversation. “What I am wondering now, is, what 
will be your next move for progress?” 

“Here comes the one to answer that question,” she said, 
confidently, as she saw Jack Dalhart approaching. 

Margaret was glad their conversation had gone no fur- 


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305 


ther along the line it had taken. In the few phrases con- 
cerning Forstner’s attitude toward the Servers, she had 
said far more than she had intended to say. While she 
desired with all earnestness that the brilliant young doctor 
should, at some time, join his fortunes with those of her 
comrades, still, in seeking to sway him to this end she knew 
she stood in grave danger of compromising her affections. 
Any zealous effort on her part to influence his personal fu- 
ture she felt certain he would take as an encouragement of 
his suit. To hold the lover at arms length, therefore, while 
winning the man to the unselfish service of his fellows, was 
the difficult and tactful task Margaret knew was set be- 
fore her. 

Forstner, on the other hand, knew that to be successful 
in his suit he, sooner or later, would have to account to her 
for his attitude toward the extraordinary movement to 
which she yielded such loyal allegiance. There never could 
be perfect heart accord between them as long as he was 
without and she was within this organization. 

As long as he remained on the lower plane of conven- 
tional self-service, while she stood on the lifted one of lov- 
ing and unselfish service, he could not expect, or justly 
complain if she denied to him her devotion. And when he 
had said that it was not for him to sit in judgment of the 
Servers, it had been a mere clumsy confession that he had 
not as yet sealed his judgment. 

The lover was distressed by conflicting voices from with- 
in, seeking to influence his verdict. While voices from his 
heart were sympathetic and generous in their approval, 
louder voices from the conventional and traditional side of 
his nature were mocking in their disapproval. 

All the trend and training of the man’s mind, as well as 
all the associations of his life, of his family and friends, in- 
fluenced him to hold aloof from a movement that was so 
quixotic. But in this attitude, the lover could not deny 
that he was yielding to the dictates of his head rather than 
of his heart, and that, to this extent, his devotion was not 
20 . 


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full and complete. But Margaret did not blame Forstner 
in this. The heart is not always the safest guide and mon- 
itor in the conflicts and contentions of life, she, herself, 
felt conscious. Therefore, she did not blame the doctor 
for his hesitation. Besides, Margaret had the right to be- 
lieve, without vanity, that she could, at any time, by yield- 
ing to Forstner the reward of her affections, win his full 
devotion to her cause as well as to herself. And herein 
she suffered great perturbance of spirit. Fate was, indeed, 
being unkind to her in the matter of her affections. 

She gladly would have yielded her heart’s devotion to 
her earlier lover if only he had consented to throw off his 
cynicism and to have joined her in a nobler conception of 
life. And now, here was one, uncynical, brilliant, gallant, 
lovable — she had no doubt — who gladly and joyously was 
waiting but a word from her to set his face toward the 
heights ! And yet, she could not say that word because of 
whispering voices from the past ! 

When her comrade had joined them, she exclaimed: 
“Dr. Forstner was just wondering what our next move for 
progressive action in this city would be?” 

“For one thing,” replied Dalhart, promptly, “I think we 
shall attempt to organize the milk supply. This has to do 
with baby boy and baby girl, and, therefore, should have 
the quick support of all homes. At present there are hun- 
dreds of dairymen supplying us with their products in vary- 
ing quantities and qualities. Some of their establishments 
are small, supplying only a few customers; while others 
are larger, supplying many patrons. Their delivery routes 
overlap and duplicate one another to the extent that neces- 
sitates a shameful economic loss. Besides this, the prac- 
tice of the vendors in buying milk from one another makes 
it difficult for the health board to fix responsibility for 
many violations of its regulations. 

“We propose to organize the dairymen into one large 
corporation for the purpose of the delivery of their prod- 
ucts. The milkmen themselves will be the only stock- 




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307 


holders of the company, sharing in its earnings propor- 
tionately to the products they deliver to it. Thus there 
will be only one delivery system. The producers of milk 
will bring their product to the central, or a branch estab- 
lishment, and there receive credit for it according to quan- 
tity and quality, as shown by measure and test. We believe 
that such a method of handling the delivery problem will be 
an improvement over the method in some cities where com- 
panies independent of the producers are the purchasers and 
deliverers.” 

“Your plan should at least promote greater efficiency in 
our milk service,” asserted young Forstner. “Organization 
always makes for machine-like efficiency.” 

“Yes,” agreed Jack, “that is one lesson we gained from 
the century just past. Unfortunately, however, the ap- 
plication of this lesson has not been made greatly to bene- 
fit the public. But we intend to turn its operation to the 
welfare of the people in this city as rapidly as sentiment 
will sustain us.” 

“You mean you will not rest with the organization of the 
milk supply?” 

“By no means; we will immediately attempt to organize 
our whole food supply,” declared Dalhart. “We probably 
will be sustained in this more readily than in other things. 
Our present chaotic system of food distribution is abom- 
inable and economically inexcusable. While the Service 
chain stores have relieved the situation somewhat in so far 
as staple groceries are concerned, you would be amazed to 
go down on produce row and to see the confusion and waste 
existing there. And yet, this is only a small part of the 
evil. The outstanding uneconomic feature, possibly, is that 
there are no less than two score wholesale produce and com- 
mission houses now engaged in the importation into, and 
the distribution within, our city of such products as but- 
ter, cheese, eggs, fowls, fresh fruits and vegetables. There 
absolutely is no co-ordination between these many agencies, 
such as would make for the intelligent and economic pro- 


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viding of our city with its food needs. Waste and ineffi- 
ciency, and constantly recurring over-supplying and under- 
supplying of products are the rule and not the exception. 
By organizing the two score merchants into one large cor- 
poration we propose to remedy those evils.” 

“But suppose the merchants refused to be organized?” 
suggested Forstner, doubtfully. 

“Perhaps they will refuse,” conceded Dalhart, “until we 
have convinced them that we have the full backing of your- 
self and associates, and that the alternative will be the es- 
tablishment of a municipal bureau with full powers to sup- 
ply our people with their needs. If we have not your back- 
ing, the Servers will meet the situation by fronting the mer- 
chants with a competition that will drive them out of bus- 
iness. However, a majority of the produce men will rec- 
ognize, I am confident, that there is now a popular demand 
for absolute efficiency and sanitation in food distribution; 
and they will be ready to accommodate themselves to this 
new demand.” 

“But it seems to me,” contended Forstner, “that you will 
be forcing the very conditions our people have hitherto 
consistently protested against. You will be doing nothing 
less than organizing food combines.” 

“So it seems,” admitted Jack ; “but we have learned that 
trusts and combines make for greater efficiency; although 
it is true that under our individualistic claiming of bene- 
fits the people as a whole have reaped little advantage from 
such increased efficiency. However, we intend, if possible, 
to reverse the conditions in this city and state. Proceeding 
on the theory that what has proved of high value in private 
service will prove of equally high value in public service, 
we intend to make trusts and combines serve the whole 
people.” 

“But I do not see how,” protested the young commis- 
sioner, “without competition among those who sell to the 
public, you will be able to protect the people from extor- 
tion.” 


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309 


“It does look as though we are going about our recon- 
struction in a dangerous way/’ admitted Dalhart. “But 
the trouble, is, we cannot altogether choose our own method 
of procedure. We cannot fight the battle along the line of 
our own choosing; we have to make headway in whatever 
manner is possible. But in the present instance, we have 
no fear that the public will not be protected. The people 
are now awakening to the fact that they have very effec- 
tive weapons with which to defend themselves from spolia- 
tion. Heretofore, they simply were bluffed into not using 
those weapons. Our constitution, intended as a charter 
of freedom, has in fact, too often been used as an instru- 
ment for spoliation and oppression ; and while our citi- 
zens were being robbed and mulcted by the buccaneers of 
business, they were bluffed into believing that their de- 
fensive weapons of boycotting and price-fixing were ta- 
booed by law. But the people are slowly waking to the 
consciousness that supposed constitutional or legal limi- 
tations to the contrary notwithstanding, they have the in- 
herent right always, and also the power, to pursue what- 
ever course of action gives promise of being promotive of 
their highest welfare. 

“While constitutions are primarily designed to protect 
the rights of minorities, they unfortunately are turned only 
too often into instruments of obstruction, or instruments of 
coercion, enabling the few to exploit the many. But our 
slow-moving masses are being aroused, and indignantly are 
refusing longer to be hamstrung and mulcted by a rapa- 
cious few hiding behind the false conception of a consti- 
tution. Our people are slowly waking to the knowledge 
that they possess, always, the powerful weapon of pub- 
licity and concerted action. And while price-fixing and 
boycotting may be tabooed in law, there can be no legal 
bar to the publication of a scale of fair and equitable prices, 
and there can be no legal limitation on the right of folks 
to refuse to buy goods if they are asked to pay prices that 
are unfair and inequitable.” 


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“You mean,” spoke up Margaret, “that publicity will 
be given to prices of milk and produce that are fair and 
equitable, and that the people, acting in concert, will refuse 
to pay more than these prices ?” . 

“Yes,” nodded Jack, “that is precisely what I mean.” 

“But who will be the judge of the fairness of prices, and 
who will give publicity to them ?” 

“Now that the masses are waking to the consciousness of 
their power,” declared Jack, “they will speedily find ef- 
fective ways of using that power. For the present, in our 
city and state, our papers will, of course, stand between 
the people and the exploiters. But I think I see the day 
near at hand when we shall have effective price-adjusting 
boards composed of representatives of the producers, the 
middlemen, and the consumers.” 

‘We shall soon have many things,” she cried enthusi- 
astically. “differing from what we’ve had in the past !” 

“Yes,” responded Dalhart fervently, “thanks to the new 
spirit that is guiding us ! While the predominating pas- 
sion of the century past was for one to get all one could 
by all means one could, the spirit of the new day is to live 
and let live.” 

“But untiring men and women must continue to propa- 
gate and to keep alive that spirit!” exclaimed Margaret, 
with a glowing light in her eyes. 

“Unquestionably,” he agreed, “there must always be some 
souls that are stronger, more untiring, and more unselfish 
than those around them ; and it must be the task and the 
privilege of these stouter souls to lead the steady way up 
the rugged slopes of Pisgah !” 


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311 


CHAPTER XIV. 

ORGANIZING A VILLAGE. 

I. 

To casual observers the Servers appeared to be such men 
and women as the world lightly terms visionaries, and 
seemed to be completely out of their element in the hard, 
calculating sphere of business life. And so the Servers, 
each and every one, were visionaries. But they were no 
more out of their element in the practical dealings of the 
commercial world, than was that hardy Genoese out of his 
element when he set forth to sail around the physical world, 
when common sense insisted it was flat; nor were they 
more impractical than were those two determined dream- 
ers, who, with wooden-ribbed wings, set out, contrary to all 
the laws of gravity, to soar above the clouds. The Serv- 
ers, as social dreamers, claimed kinship with all such orig- 
inators, discoverers, creators, constructors and inventors. 
They carried the enthusiasm and the perseverance of the 
latter class and clan into whatever they undertook to do. 

Had they gone, each one singly, into the commercial 
world, the probabilities are that the majority of them would 
have surrendered something of their own high ideals to the 
current ideals and ethics of business as they encountered 
it. But the Servers collectively had gone into the sphere 
of business life with the set purpose, not of surrendering 
their own high idealism, but of determinedly endeavoring to 
raise the standard of all industry to their own high plane of 
Christian ethics. 

If there is a wholly unregenerated, unconverted, un- 
Christian part of man's life activities, it is that part which is 
concerned with business, industry and commerce. 

And, is it too severe a criticism to say that the organized 
Christian church has ignobly and completely surrendered 
before the hard — but it should not be hopeless — task of 
Christianizing man's commercial side? Is it not true, in 


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fact, that the church has ignominiously struck hands with 
the infidel Industry and that Mammon not only “occupies 
the choicest seats in the pew” but is the “largest contrib- 
utor to current expenses,” the chief support of the minis- 
try, and the main reliance for building funds and church 
extension? Do the Christian preachers today — outside of 
a few prophet souls who will not be hushed — dare to de- 
mand of the Rich Man that he go sell all that he hath and 
“come follow Me?” And, is it because the preachers lack 
faith, or because they have not the courage, and the spirit 
of sacrifice necessary to cut themselves off from the 
wealthy man’s treasury till, that the present-day prophets 
of God do not boldly proclaim, in phrases which carry con- 
viction, that it is easier for a “camel to enter the eye of a 
needle than for a Rich Man to enter heaven?” 

Whether such criticisms be just or not, it remains a 
fact nevertheless that the populace believes them to be so, 
and that the “poor” who “heard Him gladly” now are shut- 
ting their ears to those who claim to be His priestly mouth- 
pieces. 

The Servers boldly had undertaken the stupendous task 
before which the church had surrendered. They had dar- 
ingly set themselves to carry into the very midst of Industry 
the challenge of Christ; to demand that His spirit — which 
is that of the Service of Man to the Glory of God — shall 
become the dominating passion of even this most unregen- 
erate portion of human activities. 

Yet the Servers had not gone forth with any blatant claim 
of superior righteousness. If they claimed ought of super- 
iority, it was a superiority of humility. It was a claim to 
that spirit of meekness which dares to be unconventional. 
“To preserve appearances, to be respectable,” that obses- 
sion which oftentimes leads people into the church but 
most times drives religion out of people, had no lodging 
place in the make-up of the Servers. Nor did they make 
mental reservations, or kill the spirit with the formal let- 
ter. When they said “All for God and Man,” they meant 


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313 




all, and not a mere wee divisible Sunday-go-to-meeting 
part — with the six-day balance devoted to the service of 
Satan and Self. 

However, if the spirit of the loyal welfare-workers was 
one of lowly humility, it also was one of strenuous action. 
The small band of “visionaries” carried the enthusiasm of 
their dreams into their daily tasks, and there was only one 
result possible. Their enterprises grew, expanded, pros- 
pered, and if the comrades with the wildest, widest visions 
always were the ones in the van, yet they never hesitated 
to yield to that spirit of co-operation, co-ordination, and 
combination, which gives solid strength to the whole. Be- 
cause of this, Jack Dalhart and others, thoroughly schooled 
in the interlaced intricacies of modern commercial methods, 
had succeeded in molding and welding the many Service 
enterprises into a working co-ordination that made for un- 
shakable financial strength. 

So well organized were they in their varied activities 
which now extended in all directions, that they felt the 
time was at hand to make a concrete beginning on the stu- 
pendous task of reconstructing the whole commercial and 
industrial life of the state. They already had proven the 
practicability of their theories and they were ready now 
energetically to propagate and to spread them. At Model- 
town they had thoroughly demonstrated that Service and 
Solidarity can successfully be made the guiding spirit in all 
practical activities of community living, including even the 
economic and commercial phases ; and to spread this new, 
and old, gospel of Service, Jack went as the first emissary 
to one of the small towns nearby. 

II. 

He first spent many days conferring individually with 
the business men of the town; presenting, explaining, and 
discussing with them the new social adjustment which he 
had come to urge upon their community. And then, when 
he felt the time was ripe, he called them together in a gen- 
eral conference. 


314 


THE SERVERS 


“I have placed my project before you individually/’ he 
said, “and now I’m glad to meet you collectively. It simply 
is this, men : Uncless we are willing voluntarily to turn 
aside from our present unsocial course of each fellow striv- 
ing strenuously to get what he can with blind disregard for 
the best interests of all, then we had as well make up our 
minds that some fine morning we shall wake and find our 
country has become a red-hot, seething mass of revolution 
and chaos. If I did not believe that you are capable of 
reading the signs of the times, that already you have seen 
the handwriting on the wall, I would not have come here 
asking you to take my word for this ; nor would I have had 
the temerity to suggest the radical changes I have pro- 
posed to you. 

“The moving finger now is writing before your eyes and 
mine : ‘Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin !’ you have been 

weighed in the balance and found wanting ! Our economic 
and industrial system, the responsibility for which is yours 
and mine, has been weighed in the balance and found de- 
ficient. Need I recount how and why? Need I remind you 
of the dreadful harrowing misery that now exists in the 
world? You know about the sorrowing widows and help- 
less orphans in sweatshops of toil. You have heard tin 3 
cry of little children being sacrificed, bodies and souls, to 
the Moloch of industrial greed. Have you not heard of 
silver-haired grandmothers in garrets plying their bony 
fingers in order to keep hold on life a little longer? How 
about the grimy-faced men laboring in the black bowels of 
the earth without hope in their hearts, and somebody’s sis- 
ters in brothels, consigned there by a society that doesn’t 
care? Oh, you all know of rampant sin and lust, cruelty 
and crime, disease and depravity; all in God’s beautiful 
world of golden sunshine ! And all this while you and I 
are hastening hell-bent on getting all we can while we can ! 

“That’s the picture, men. You do not see much of it 
here in this quiet village ; but in the crowded centers of our 
country there always is a submerged mass of humanity 


THE SERVERS 


315 


struggling, struggling, pitifully, piteously, to keep from go- 
ing under; to get on top; to have a little more; to live a 
while longer! And rest assured, that if justice soon does 
not come to them from the top, in a little while their chaos 
and confusion will surge up to us from the bottom ! 

“You have your choice, men. Letting John Henry and 
the legislature do it has been the program in the past; but 
that must not be the spirit of the present and future. And 
it will not be. The hopeful message I bring to you is that 
men everywhere are waking to a knowledge of their higher 
duties ! Of their duties to their fellows, to their country, 
to civilization and to God ! Service is fast becoming the 
watchword, the rallying, redeeming cry of the new century ! 

“Are you men efficiently serving your community? If 
not, are you willing, voluntarily, to make the readjustments 
necessary to enable you to do so? The figures I have pre- 
sented show you the inordinate waste of your present sys- 
tem of community living. Some of you have indicated a 
willingness to join in a movement to better these condi- 
tions. Frankly, I must say to you that if you have not 
caught the new spirit, if you are not willing to desist in 
your course of reckless self-seeking; if yo.u are not willing 
voluntarily to co-ordinate your efforts, and to consolidate 
your establishments, in order that all waste of wealth and 
energy may be eliminated, then we must act independently 
of you in our effort to remedy the evil conditions. 

“We shall be forced to the effort to organize the citi- 
zens of this town, and the farmers of this community, and 
to establish here a co-operative general store. Similar co- 
operative ventures now are flourishing in many of the 
countries of Europe. And with our organization to give 
them impetus and stability, there is no reason why they 
should not be equally successful here. But, as we endeavor 
to make our reconstructions as little disruptive as possible, 
as you gentlemen already are in the business of distribu- 
tion, as we seek where they are solid to build on the old 
foundations, we prefer to co-operate with you if you only 


316 


THE SERVERS 


will consent to conform yourselves to the new spirit of serv- 
ice, as opposed to the old spirit of purely self-aggrandize- 
ment. 

“The decision rests with you. As this is the first town 
we have sought to organize, you men have the high privi- 
lege of beginning here a social impetus which we sincerely 
believe will sweep our whole state.” 

Jack had not spoken in a threatening tone; for he knew 
that to do so would simply put his hearers in unyielding 
opposition. He merely had told them facts. And the men 
began to say to themselves, “Who is this man? Who is 
this that declaims as though he had power to fulfill his 
prophecy ?” 

All had been seriously impressed with the earnestness and 
with the precise information of the man, when he had dis- 
cussed his program with them individually. But then Jack 
had made no mention of what the alternative would be if 
they failed to align themselves with the new movement. 
He had said no word about organizing the citizens and 
farmers and establishing a co-operative store. Probably 
none of them knew that such ventures had been tried be- 
fore in this country and had signally failed — largely be- 
cause of the American spirit of extreme individualism. But 
even had they been so aware, they undoubtedly would have 
realized that the America of a few years ago was not the 
crowded country it now is; that America then was not on 
the very brink of a social crisis. 

They were deeply impressed by the authority with which 
Jack had spoken. He had not proposed some legislative 
enactment — the kind that seldom enacts and never enforces. 
He had told them plainly that he would plant a store in 
their midst, in which every citizen, every patron of theirs, 
would have, if he chose, a personal interest. They be- 
lieved him, they had some acquaintance with the strength 
of the Service organization, and as the better part of com- 
mercial wisdom, if not in a spirit of altruism, they unre- 


THE SERVERS 


317 


servedly voiced their willingness to join in the new social 
venture. 

ill. 

Jack’s plan was simple; yet it was tremendously involved, 
when considered in the light of conservative social psychol- 
ogy. His proposal was to unite all the existing merchandis- 
ing channels in the community into a single distributing 
agency. Socially, this sounded simple; but many sacred 
personal property rights were involved — to say nothing of 
thirty-odd temperamental men. 

“The thing can’t be done, that’s all;” “No, not until an 
Edison does it.” “Besides, it’s radical, it’s fanatical, it’s 
all wrong!” “Yes, until the revolution makes it right.” 
From the beginning the largest merchant in the town had 
refused to have anything to do with Jack and his meddle- 
some proposition. And now, as he still persisted in his 
determination, Jack concluded there was nothing else to do 
but to leave him out of consideration. 

The other business men of the place, however, after hav- 
ing once pledged themselves, quickly caught the contagion 
of the devoted young man’s enthusiasm, and they soon were 
aglow with the patriotic desire to put their community on 
the map as the paragon and leader for all other communi- 
ties in the state. 

Taking advantage of their enthusiasm, Jack had the mer- 
chants promptly form a tentative organization and immedi- 
ately select the block of ground on which would be erected 
the immense structure that was to house the stocks of goods 
that now were scattered in their some fifteen, or more, 
stores. With this imporant matter settled, he did not wait 
for the ink to dry on the title deeds to the property before 
he summoned the necessary contractors, laborers,, and ma- 
terials to the town. The man who knew how to do things 
because he had already done them simply amazed the con- 
servative village merchants by his dynamic movements. 
Jack had shown them detailed drawings when he first had 
broached his project, but he had not explained that the 


318 


THE SERVERS 


plans and specifications were some which had been worked 
out by experts who had devoted months of investigation 
and study to the distributive needs of various sized towns. 
But the merchants readily approved the plans on faith, after 
the young man had assured them concerning the necessary 
financial arrangements. 

“You shall not be called upon to pay five cents towards 
the cost of the building until it has been completed/’ he 
assured them, “for I want to demonstrate to you in a con- 
crete way that, in a sense, the structure will not cost you a 
penny.” . \$ i 

What he wished so clearly to convince them was that 
the cost of the new plant would be covered by the proceeds 
of the sales of the duplicated stocks carried on the shelves 
of their fifteen or more stores ; that, in place of these dupli- 
cated and dead stocks, the village would soon possess a 
modern merchandise plant. 

While the business men were perfecting their working 
organization and reducing and consolidating their stocks, 
Jack rushed the construction of the new plant with all pos- 
sible speed. 


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319 


CHAPTER XV. 

CAN ONE WILL TO LOVE ANOTHER? 

I. 

A few months later Jack and Margaret Innington mo- 
tored over to the little town in order that Margaret might 
see the marvelously equipped merchandise plant which now 
loomed handsomely above the houses of the village. 

“The citizens of this place/' he remarked, as they en- 
tered the building, “will never again have occasion to com- 
plain that they cannot satisfy their merchandise wants here 
at home; for this store carries as complete an assortment 
of goods as does the finest department store in our city.” 

“Why, I think I am in the city !” she exclaimed, “until I 
look out of a door!” 

“Yes, and all this has been brought about without its hav- 
ing cost the merchants a single dollar. It's this way,” he 
explained, in answer to the question in her eyes ; “before 
the consolidation of the fifteen stores into one, the various 
merchants carried thousands of dollars worth of duplicated 
stocks; and this structure was paid for with that dead 
capital. Each one of the ten grocery merchants, for in- 
stance, carried at least one case of canned milk on his 
shelves and one case in his warehouse; whereas, here only 
four cases are required to be kept; which means that the 
dead capital tied up in the other sixteen cases was released 
to go into this magnificent structure; or into assortments 
of goods that never before were purchasable in this town. 
This is only one item of advantage and saving caused by 
the consolidation. The fifteen and more structures which 
housed the merchants' stocks before they were transferred 
here were mostly frame buildings, and the insurance rate 
on them was very excessive ; whereas, the charge on this 
concrete structure is only nominal. Then, each one of the 
fifteen merchants had his drayage and delivery service; 
here, there is only one service. Before, each merchant 


320 


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bought in only small quantities and was forced to pay local 
freight charges on his shipments; this concern buys in car- 
load lots and the saving, therefore, not only in freight 
charges but through quantity buying will amount to thou- 
sands of dollars each year. And the saving in clerk hire, 
and in the labor and energy required to run this single es- 
tablishment is incalculable as compared to the old discon- 
nected concerns. For instance, under the old arrangement, 
each one of the fifteen merchants, we can say, made a trip 
to his bank every day ; whereas, here only one trip is neces- 
sary. And the two banks as you can see, have consolidated 
and the new one has its quarters here in this building/’ 

“But I should think,” contended the young woman, “that 
the very fact that these consolidations will release the en- 
ergies of so many men, causing their unemployment, will 
make your task of organizing the communities of the state 
almost impossible.” 

“The goal would be an unthinkable one to struggle to- 
ward,” he agreed, “if we did not have the Service organiza- 
tion as the efficient instrument of readjustment. For in- 
stance, had we not been able, because of our varied re- 
sources, to meet each problem that confronted us in the 
reorganization of this community, our undertaking would 
have failed lamentably. The energies of some ten men were 
released by the consolidation of the distributive agencies in 
this town; but fortunately, we were able to transfer those 
men to fields of labor where they not only were more 
agreeably situated, but where they became productive rather 
than parasitic units of society. Several of them long had 
been desirous of engaging in farming, but had been too 
timid to make the venture. With this opportunity presented 
of liquidating their business, and of moving onto the unit 
farms near Modeltown, they did not hesitate a moment. 
Others had long wished to move to the city, but various 
meticulous considerations had deterred them, until, with 
our assistance they were able to gratify their dormant in- 
clinations.” 


THE SERVERS 


321 


“I can see the wonderful advantages of the consolida- 
tion,” she said, “but I cannot understand how you were 
able to get the men involved in it ever to agree to make 
the attempt to work in harmony.” 

“In a sense, they did not agree voluntarily to the un- 
dertaking,” he replied, smiling, “we suspended a Sword of 
Damocles, over their heads, as it were, and they had no 
choice. Now, they are tremendously thankful that we 
forced the arrangement on them. Of course, at times, they 
will have their slight spasms of inharmony, as do all bus- 
iness families.” 

“Please tell me by what sort of practical business ar- 
rangement this consolidation was brought about?” 

“The merchants simply formed an ordinary corporation 
under the laws of this state,” he explained, “with a some- 
what unusual constitution and by-laws. They agreed 
among themselves as to just the amount of stock each one 
would be entitled to; basing their decision partly on the 
size of their previous business establishments. The stock is 
non-transferable, and whenever a stockholder becomes sep- 
arated from the establishment, through any cause what- 
ever, his stock must be liquidated into the treasury, there 
to remain Until some new associate, or associates, becomes 
connected with the establishment. Every person whose 
energies are employed in running this store holds stock in 
some amount. There are no ordinary employes; each and 
every one has a voice in selecting the directing officers of 
the concern — not based on the number of shares he holds, 
but simply because he is a man. After the election of the 
officials they, of course, have the responsible conduct of 
the business during their administration.” 

“Now that the consolidation is an accomplished fact,” 
said Margaret, “I can understand how it will continue to 
operate as any other corporation.” 

“The plant is running like oiled machinery, and it is such 
a wonderful improvement over the old stores that not only 
the merchants themselves, but all the citizens of the com- 
21 


322 


THE SERVERS 


munity, are happy over the transition. The activity here, 
the bright cleanliness, the efficiency, the modernity of the 
place makes the change from the old system seem like a 
magic transformation.” 

“And this makes us wonder,” she exclaimed, “why we 
cling so tenaciously to the old way of doing things long 
after we have spiritually outgrown them. Surely these mer- 
chants have in a very realistic and practical way, raised 
themselves to a higher plane of humanism. The very at- 
mosphere of this place breathes a deep spirit of joyous 
brotherhood. And we marvel that the men involved in the 
change could for so long a time have endured that un- 
human, unsocial, disorganized method of merchandising 
whereby they were separated into a number of establish- 
ments not unlike so many frowning fortifications of sel- 
fishness.” 

She was out of breath when she stopped, and Jack was 
smiling at her serious earnestness. 

“Indeed !’ ’he gaily exclaimed, “this new method has 
some advantages one little dreams of. For instance, I over- 
heard one of the former general store men say, with deep 
satisfaction, that he now would be free from the torment 
of dealing in coffees, beans and women’s petticoats !” 

“Yes,” she retorted, “I imagine that the women, too, now 
will have cause to rejoice because of the saner selection of 
their petticoats.” 

“They certainly will have,” he agreed, “for the arrange- 
ment here whereby each man is in charge of that depart- 
ment which he is best qualified to supervise, not only is 
causing gratification to the merchants themselves, but is 
proving for the better service of the public.” 

“It must indeed be a source of great satisfaction to the 
country people,” she exclaimed, “to be able to gratify their 
wants the same as if they were in the city. But tell me, 
without the old competition between the merchants, how 
is the public being safeguarded from unjust price raising?” 

“There never was any real competition between the mer- 


THE SERVERS 


323 


chants/’ he replied, “for in these days of standard brands 
and of one price to all retailers by the wholesalers, there 
are few articles that are not sold in all stores at practically 
the same price. Lower prices prevail only where bad debt 
losses have been eliminated through cash selling, or where 
many stores have co-ordinated under one ownership. In 
other words, it is not competition, but the elimination of 
competition, that makes for lower prices. The first step 
toward price reduction was taken in this community, there- 
fore, when all the separated, wasteful unsanitary and in- 
efficiently managed stores were merged into this single 
magnificent merchandise plant. And while the thousands 
of dollars that will be saved each year through the cur- 
tailment of freight, drayage, delivery and other expenses 
may not go to the public in price reductions, there cer- 
tainly will be no incentive here for price raising. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the earnings of these merchants will be far 
greater than they were under the old system. Besides, there 
are other valid reasons why there will be no profiteering 
and price-raising. This community has entered upon a 
new era of social philosophy, of social economy, and the old 
ultra-individualism with its high-sounding cry of ‘personal 
liberty’ has been superseded by a truer conception of man’s 
social relationship. 

“Men cannot be both one and separate; and society 
means unity. But, unfortunately, there are only too many 
men who, while demanding all the benefits of social uni- 
fication, continue to claim the right to. gratify their indi- 
vidualistic desires without regard for, and often contrary 
to, the welfare of their fellows. If such men must have 
their individualism, let them seek it in the savage wilds. 
But if they desire the higher advantages of civilization, let 
them recognize the old equitable maxim that if one takes 
the benefits he also must assume the burdens. 

“The people of this community,” continued Jack, “re- 
sponded to the same kind of propaganda with which we 
expect to flood the state. And they are now seriously en- 


324 


THE SERVERS 


deavoring to readjust all their social activities to square 
with a saner, truer citizenship. For instance, the proprie- 
tors of this store have come to the recognition that, as they 
sell to the public, as they rely on the patronage of the public 
for the support of their business, the public has a vital in- 
terest in the way that business is conducted. The old 
theory that ‘a man’s business is his own and the public 
be damned’ no longer has a place in the newer social phil- 
osophy anywhere. These merchants voluntarily undertook 
the work of merchandise distribution in this community, 
and once having assumed the obligation, it is their social 
duty to perform their work well. Not only so, but the citi- 
zens whose food and raiment and comforts come through 
this distributive agency have the social right to demand 
that it be honestly and efficiently conducted. This mer- 
chandising plant is, in fact, a quasi-public corporation; just 
as much as any other privately owned pubilc utility plant. 
And this is now recognized by the men owning and man- 
aging this store. Spurred by the spirit of the Servers, 
which is fast being spread abroad, these merchants are 
heartily co-operating in every way with the citizens and 
farmers of the community. One of the recognized rights 
of the latter is to investigate and satisfy themselves at any 
time that they are not being charged more than the current 
and necessary prices for the commodities which they pur- 
chase here.” 

“You do not mean,” cried Margaret, “that any person 
can demand to know the merchants’ cost prices on the 
goods he buys in this store?” 

“Hardly that,” he replied, “although I presume there 
would be no refusal of the merchants to disclose their cost 
prices. But as in a city the individual citizens do not think 
of demanding to inspect the books of the public service 
corporations, so it is here. You see, after we organized the 
merchants of this community, we then organized the house- 
wives and the farmers, and it is through these associa- 


THE SERVERS 


325 


tions that the citizens are kept in touch with the conduct of 
this store.” 

“I can readily see,” she exclaimed, “the wisdom of your 
plan of having associations rather than individuals deal 
with one another.” 

“Yes, we believe that intercourse and action through as- 
sociations generally is pitched on a higher plane, and usu- 
ally is more thoroughly and more fairly reasoned. And 
though we had other motives for forming the housewives 
and farmers into associations than that merely of enabling 
them to deal collectively with this store, yet, aggregate 
dealing with this establishment has been of especially tre- 
mendous advantage to the farmers. Under the old system 
of merchandising, there really was no efficient buying 
agency for many of the farmer’s products, and, conse- 
quently, no incentive for the production of many things. 
For instance, heretofore the numerous stores handled only 
so many dozens of the farmers’ eggs as they were sure of 
disposing of over their own counters. As the business was 
split-up and unorganized, no one of the merchants attempt- 
ed to make out-of-town shipments. But now, with the 
farmers organized sanely to produce, and the merchants 
efficiently consolidated to handle and ship, there is oppor- 
tunity here for the unlimited production of all those com- 
modities of which the larger market centers of the country 
are in need.” 

The young people left the store and started on their 
homeward drive just as the evening twilight was beginning 
rapidly to fall — and their thoughts dropped suddenly and 
completely away from the sterner activities of men, and 
soon become softly attuned to the voices of nature which 
were thrilling and appealing in the wild songs of the birds 
and in the soft lowing of the cattle herds that crowded the 
narrow country lanes. Jack drove slowly and carelessly, 
while abandoning himself to the gentle witchery of the 
sweetly perfumed breezes which came softly across the 
green fields and pink orchards. 


326 


THE SERVERS 


For a time, he was contentedly aware of the pensive 
mood of Margaret, who seemed as enchanted as himself 
with the vocal melodies and the bounteous signs of na- 
ture’s twilight glories. But presently, from the corner of 
his eye, he glimpsed the sad droop of her lips and the set 
stare of her face, which led him to surmise that her thoughts 
were bridging space and searching, searching out in a tragic 
endeavor somewhere and somehow to discover the mysteri- 
ous and silent whereabouts of her erstwhile professedly 
devoted lover. 

Jack often detected Margaret in these softly pensive 
moods, and while always it stirred his deepest sympathies, 
yet, of late, he was beginning seriously to ask himself if it 
likewise did not arouse in him a certain measure of strange 
disapprobation. For while he made no pretense of court- 
ing her, he readily admitted to himself that he was experi- 
encing a growing contentment in her company and com- 
panionship. Margaret Innington was a thoroughly satis- 
factory comrade; for she readily adjusted herself to any 
•situation, and quickly reacted to whatever mood her friend 
happened to be in, whether it were lighthearted or serious. 
And because of his own increasing felicity when in her 
company, Jack was disturbed not alone by the growing in- 
timacy between Margaret and Dr. Forstner and the fre- 
quency with which she granted him her favors, but he was 
disturbed as well by the frequency with which he found 
her, in her unguarded moments, disclosing that her truant 
thoughts and deeper interests still were unattached from 
the old lover and missing friend. 

Ffad Jack been wiser in the psychology of sex, he would 
not have been surprised at Margaret’s failure sometimes to 
reciprocate his own unalloyed contentment of companion- 
ship. In fact, had he displayed somewhat less of tranquility 
in her presence, perhaps she might have evidenced a more 
complete gratification in his own, and would not have let 
her truant thoughts wander into the past. For if a woman 
cannot excite in a man a certain measure of unrest and dis- 


THE SERVERS 


327 


content he is sure to be one in whose comradeship she will 
not find satisfaction. A woman’s mission is to fan the 
flames, to add to the fuel of man’s passions and his higher 
aspirations, and certainly not merely to bring to him a 
supine contentment. A woman is jealous if she is denied 
the higher privilege and is sought only as a restful narcotic. 
But there are men who display an entire unconcern for, or 
utter scorn of, the gentler sex’s stimulating influence. Such 
find fully compensating excitants in the incessant strife of 
the world’s marts and markets. Jack was one who found 
all the ardor, intensity and inspiration of life in its strange 
conflicts; and when he turned to woman at all it was to 
seek in her society only repose and relaxation. 

Because he had not found just this quietude in the pres- 
ence of the missing Courtney Chester, but on the contrary 
had found in her company a stimulating aggressiveness, is 
the reason perhaps he so quickly had considered that young 
woman in a light different from others of her sex. And 
had Jack found just a small measure more of fire and pas- 
sion in Courtney’s coldly formal nature, perhaps he would 
have yielded more completely to his admiration for her and 
would not have been able in so few months after her dis- 
appearance to have thrown off the painful depression of 
spirits which he had experienced at first. 

But certain it is that he soon again had become full of 
the bouyant eagerness and enthusiasm of life, finding in his 
daily labors all the excitement, thrill and ardor that his 
nature demanded. And certainly he displayed no regretful 
longings for the distrubing attributes of love. He would 
turn away from the strife and conflict of his work to find 
in the society of Margaret Innington a delightful relaxa- 
tion and restfulness; and so pleasurable had these periods 
of comradeship become that he seriously had meditated 
more than once if she would not make him a most sensible 
and congenial life companion. 

If he had only known it, Margaret Innington’s pensive 
moods were not given wholly to dreaming about Victor 


328 


THE SERVERS 


Rodney. Nor were her livelier thoughts and interests cen- 
tered as completely in the young doctor as Jack might have 
believed from all outward evidence. Psychologic reflection 
on his part might have brought to him the hopeful thought 
that the affection without outward indication sometimes is 
the deepest affection ; and if Margaret displayed toward 
himself only the sincere attachment of a good friend and 
comrade, it was no sure indication of the real intensity and 
nature of her feelings. 

The truth is that Margaret knew as little about the real 
status of her affections as did the men who were so deeply 
interested. Only one thing she did know : that her soul 
was growing increasingly hungry for passionate love. She 
was aware that her woman’s nature was increasingly de- 
manding love — love with all its divine attributes ! In earlier 
years she had dreamed of love with all the abandon of 
young womanhood. It was to be a sensation full of thrills 
and doubts and wild joys; an exhilaration lifting one to 
the higher levels where one views' the soft splendors of the 
evening sunset; or, mayhap, becomes a silent observer to 
the storm's black brooding. 

Possessed of a gentle nature herself, Margaret did not 
long for the love that gives rest and peace and quiet bliss. 
And perhaps, it was for this reason that she had been quick 
to measure the passionate Victor Rodney as approaching 
her soul's ideal. But she had been frightened by the cyni- 
cism and truculent temper of the missing man ; and she had 
striven valiantly to exercise a rigid restraint against the 
outpourings of her affections in his direction. But, more 
than ever, she realized that the torrent of her love must be 
loosed without restraint ! And, if in truth her subconscious 
devotion already was linked to the fate of the missing man 
with the passionate eyes, then she must, in spirit at least, 
pay him the full tribute of her devotion! 

Unless, indeed, one can learn to love another! Jack 
Dalhart, too, measured up to all the ethical, moral, and 
manly requirements of her ideal ; likewise, did the gallant 


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329 


young Forstner. But can one, by simply willing to do so, 
learn to love another? Is love a hot-house plant which 
one may propagate and force to grow when and where 
and how one chooses? Or, is love a wild-flower of nature 
that seeks, in its native abandon, its own strange and unac- 
countable places in which to drop its roots, and that defies 
all the ingenuity of man to make it thrive and grow in places 
where it did not choose to flourish. Margaret did not 
know. 


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CHAPTER XVI. 

VICTOR AND COURTNEY AGAIN 
I 

“Praise be to Allah ! Allah is good !” 

These soft words uttered by an oriental woman to the 
companion with whom she was conversing in his room, 
caused Victor Rodney to turn wearily on his sick bed that 
he might give a more attentive ear to that small part of the 
conversation he could understand. 

Victor had been ill for a number of weeks and, during 
this time, had been cared for solely by the two motherly 
women of foreign birth. The unfortunate man had been 
brought to his present plight by an accumulating series of 
adversities. Many months back, when he had first come 
to the city, he had been assisted in securing a good clerical 
position by the Salvation Army worker into whose care he 
had been consigned by the friendly newsboy. But Victor 
had not held the position long ; it had soon become necessary 
for employment to be given to a relative of one of the older 
employes, and the last employe had been the one forced to 
relinquish his place. The young man had lost his next posi- 
tion because he had been unable, in so short a time, to ad- 
just his independent, high-strung temperament to a passive 
obedience to whatever kind of authority happened to be 
over him. 

As the months wore on Victor steadily had gone from 
bad to worse. In his lonliness and despair he had yielded to 
his propensity for strong drink, and had thereby added 
voluntary dissipation to involuntary misfortune. Very soon, 
all the good in the man was at war with the bad, and he 
was wholly at bay against the world. Had not drink sod- 
dened him. to a degree, against the cruel cuffs and rebuffs 
to which he was subjected in his struggle, his sensitive 
nerve structure might have given way sooner than it did. 
Often recurring unemployment had reduced him to a con- 


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dition of wretched shahbiness and had driven him to living 
quarters in the most overcrowded and impoverished sec- 
tion of the city. Here he had resided only a short time be- 
fore his health at last broke down before the continual as- 
saults of poverty, drink and despair. Fate at least had 
been kind enough in its pressure downward to permit the 
unfortunate man to fall into the hands of two Good Samari- 
tans. 

Women of foreign birth though they were — the one a 
worshipper at the shrine of the God of Mahomet, and the 
other of the God of the Buddha — they had nursed the sick 
man with kind solicitude and efficient care. Indeed, so 
generous had been their treatment of him that Victor, now 
rapidly recovering his strength, was led to seek the well- 
springs of sentiment which actuated them in their tender 
care of him. 

“You are very good to me,” he said earnestly, “why do 
you bother with a sick man?” 

The motherly Hindu woman smiled deprecatinglv, while 
the brown-skinned daughter of Allah busied herself around 
the room. They conversed in English only brokenly, and 
were so unpretentious of any special claims to special good- 
ness — the two pagan women with Christian hearts — that he 
had difficulty in drawing from them any elucidation of their 
reasons for their neighborly conduct. It was only by per- 
sistent questioning that he at last gathered that it was be- 
cause they were endeavoring sincerely to be true to the 
higher tenets of their faith in their every-day living that 
made them so solicitous for their unfortunate neighbors. 

“Let none of you treat your brother in a way he him- 
self would dislike to be treated” — was the command of 
Allah as he learned it from the lips of the woman of Persia ! 

Thus, the astonished young man, here in the cramped 
quarters of a crowded tenement, surrounded by all that 
tends to embrute the human passions and to darken life, 
received his first lessons in the science of camparative re- 
ligions ! Always before he had believed that the Golden 


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Rule was the exclusive property of the Christian people; 
but now, sitting at the feet of these immigrant daughters 
of the East, he learned further from the lips of the brown- 
skinned woman of India that the Buddhists believe that 
4 One should seek for others the happiness one desires for 
oneself !” 

Were not these expressions the Golden Rule only in 
changed phraseology? Was it not the same as the teach- 
ing of Christ? “Whatsoever ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye even so to them !” 

Victor Rodney had occasion to meditate on religion more 
now than he ever had done before. Or, perhaps it is truer 
to say that his cogitations were more open minded, and 
more sympathetic, than they ever had been. His attitude 
in the past toward religion had been that of the worldly 
wise, scornful critic. He was more humble now — and much 
wiser. Yet, his greater wisdom did not enable him to escape 
a great mental perplexity occasioned by the voicing of their 
faith by the two women. Their kindly treatment of him 
undoubtedly squared with the tenets of their faith; but all 
this did not harmonize with the conception of paganism that 
heretofore had been his. For always when he had thought 
of pagans, he conjured up pictures of dancing dervishes! 
For had not it been instilled into him even as a youth in 
Sunday school — whether it had been so intended or not — 
that the pagan peoples are most horrible and depraved? 
And here were these worshippers of their strange Gods 
ministering unto him with the same tender solicitude that 
would have been his own Christian mother’s ! They were 
nursing him in the name of their Great Prophets, even as 
that Salvation Army man had rendered him aid in the 
name of his great Exemplar. 

With the thought of the Salvationists came that of the 
Servers — and the shaming recollection that more than once 
he had mentioned the two organizations with a sneer. And 
into this train of thinking there immediately intruded the 
picture of that young woman from whom he had parted 


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when she had admitted her membership in the strange or- 
ganization of Christian workers ! Indeed, Margaret Inning- 
ton’s face had been in the memory of the wretched man 
almost constantly, in spite of the fact that every day since, 
he had been drifting, drifting, further away from the pos- 
sibility of his ever again being worthy to present himself in 
her presence. 

Such an onrush of painful thoughts caused him to turn 
his face to the wall; for he needed, too, to hide the tears 
of self-commiseration which began to flood his face, as he 
lay bemoaning his wretched fate. Surely, he believed, he 
had endured and was suffering all the misery that a mortal 
can justly have measured to him. He had been separated 
forever from the one who was the light of his existence — 
and certainly this is the sum of all sorrow. Yet, it had been 
his fault. Through his stubbornness he had failed to un- 
derstand that there are few fundamentals in life that 
supremely matter, while so much else is mere vanity and 
the devil’s clever camouflage. He had held stoutly to his 
stubborn prejudices while flaunting and scorning all the 
deep truths that were so precious in the sight of her whose 
affections he had struggled to win. Too late, too late ! The 
man lay now softly moaning to himself, while the kind- 
hearted neighbors, thinking him asleep, quietly slipped out 
of the squalid room. 

II. 

The two kindh women had another reason for leaving 
the sick man’s bedside; for there had recently come unde: 
their partial care, in a distant part of the large tenement, 
other patients who had lost their' special caretaker in the 
person of a young Jewish woman who had moved to other 
quarters. 

One of these was none other than Courtney Chester. She, 
too, after her sudden drop from the higher levels to the 
middle-cliffs of life, had slowly slipped into the treacherous 
quicksands below. For a time, she had struggled valiantly 
to maintain her hold but her footing had been too precarious. 


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And now that she was in the quicksands she discovered 
how useless it was to seek by struggling to extricate her- 
self. Socially the world does not recognize this fact. The 
fortunate in life insist, because they do not know, that in- 
dividuals of the submerged classes can readily raise them- 
selves if they only exert the proper effort. This is called 
ambition, energy and ability ; and if one has these qualities 
one is sure of what is called success. And if one has not 
these faculties it is just that one should go under, for such 
a person is not the fittest to survive. 

No, from the quicksands, only one escape is possible; and 
that is through some extended kindly human aid. Socially, 
this is also true — as Victor Rodney and Courtney Chester 
were experiencing severely. When they came to the city, 
their problems had immediately become no more nor less 
than are the problems of all low-wage earners, of all the 
submerged classes. Often this amounts to stretching an 
unstretchable income to cover a suddenly expanding outgo ; 
or how, perhaps, in time of unemployment or sickness, to 
live for months without working! Both young people had 
found these problems impossible of solution. 

At first, Courtney had undertaken the burden of her self- 
support with all confidence ; she had been fortunate enough 
to secure work immediately on her arrival in the city. But 
in spite of the fact that she at once began to husband her 
small earnings with scrupulous regard for the future, she 
had been quite surprised, when later she found herself 
separated from her employment, to discover that her ac- 
cumulated earnings amounted to only a few dollars. And 
then, as her living expenses did not lessen during the period 
of her forced idleness, she soon became frantically aware 
that her small savings were being rapidly consumed. As 
she was unable for a time to secure other employment, the 
former prosperous minister’s daughter was brought face to 
face with the problem of how to live without working. She 
' was severely and literally having interpreted to her the 
meaning of the phrase, “the right to work !” 


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335 


The right to work means the right to live. And the right 
to decent wages means the right to decent living. Courtney 
Chester presently found other employment ; but not at 
especially decent wages. She should have rejoiced, how- 
ever, for her new employers were Christian people. But 
the young woman, unfortunately, did not find any occasion 
to congratulate herself because of this fact. Had her mis- 
tress been any the less of a consistent church goer, Courtney 
herself might have had greater freedom and consequently 
opportunity for Christian worship ; she might at least have 
had the Sabbath day as her own. As it was, she found 
that her duties as nurse for a petted, fretful child required 
that she be in service at all hours of the day or night when 
the mother of the child chose to be away. Courtney did not 
care for herself, but her sympathies did go out to the other 
maids, and most of all to the cook, who on the Sabbath 
always was required to have an especially abundant repast 
for the famished Christians when they returned from their 
earnest worship at the temple of God. Yet, the young 
woman was forced to recall that even in her father’s own 
household it had not been thought necessary for the lesser 
servants to have their Sundays as a “seventh day of rest !” 
She now marvelled how completely one’s viewpoint changes 
when one’s condition in life is reversed. 

As a servant in a Christian household, Courtney had 
many occasions, during the short period of her employment, 
to meditate on the every-day morality and ethics of con- 
sistent church-goers. 

However, she was drawing her wages regularly — which 
was the chief consideration. But the hours of her work 
were such that she had scant time in which to provide for 
her own needs, and she was compelled to do her laundering 
and sewing at night. Nevertheless, she cheerfully submitted 
to these hardships, for she was ready to sacrifice all the 
slightest comforts and advantages in order to effect an ac- 
cumulation of savings against the next period of unemploy- 
ment. 


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With this desire strongly animating her, Courtney was 
considerably distressed, therefore, when a decayed tooth 
which she had neglected for many months, suddenly began 
to pain her severely, and she was forced to seek a dentist. 
For his services she paid all her savings and found herself 
still in his debt for a small amount. Although this was the 
first time Courtney ever had seriously contracted a debt on 
her own account, she thought little of the matter as she had 
no reason to doubt the continued drawing of her wages. 
But during the next few weeks that little debt was to be- 
come one of the special torments of the unfortunate girl’s 
life. 

Before she had drawn another week’s wages, Courtney 
became possessed of a barking cough, such as caused her 
mistress to fear that the cold causing it would be con- 
veyed to the child; and the nurse, therefore, was promptly 
dismissed. No solicitude whatever was shown for the 
young woman’s welfare by her Christian employers; and 
she found herself once again on the streets, and almost 
penniless. Again Courtney hurried from place to place, 
besieging the employment agencies. But though there 
seemed to be many positions open, somehow she was not 
just the person wanted. At last, footsore and weary, she 
suddenly became horrified with the thought that the more 
she exerted herself to find employment, the weaker she was 
becoming and, therefore, the surer of not finding something 
to do. The more she struggled, the surer it seemed that she 
must go under. 

During these troublesome days, the little dental bill had 
become a source of terrible anxiety to the distracted young 
woman. She began to ask herself if she had not done 
something dishonest by contracting the debt; and as she 
hurried along the sidewalks crowded with pedestrains she 
expected at every turn to meet the accusing eyes of the den- 
tist to whom she owed the bill. She did not know that she 
was one only of many whose lives are made wretched by 
their inability to meet their honest obligations. Debts are 


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337 


the troublesome nightmares of only too many honest souls; 
and if all the debts in the world suddenly could be squared 
in one moment it would be, we well can believe, like the 
fading of an eclipse from the joyous sun of life ! 

Disheartened and weary, Courtney Chester was growing 
desperate with increasing hunger. She did not know 
whither to turn. Though she often passed the churches — 
standing severe, stolid, silent and aloof during the turbid 
week days — the minister’s daughter did not seek their help. 
She was taunted with the memory of what had been her 
own church’s distrustful and coldly formal attitude toward 
those who had sought it for practical assistance. Besides, 
she was not seeking charity ; she was able,, willing, eager to 
work. And she had a right to work; a right to live! Yet, 
somehow, Courtney was beginning to feel that she did not 
care whether or not she continued to live- -were it not for 
that unpaid dental bill ! 

Such thoughts as these were flooding her mind one day 
as she pursued the forlorn hope of inquiring once again at 
an employment office. She put on a brave front as she 
entered the office, but the curt reply that there still was 
nothing open crushed her spirit to such an extent that she 
did not seek to leave the building by the elevator but turned 
toward the rarely used stairway and dropped down on the 
steps and burst into a flood of tears. 

The huddled heap of despair soon attracted the attention 
of a scrub-woman who just then came on duty, and the 
latter sat down by the weeping girl’s side to offer her sym- 
pathy. This unexpected kindness brought a greater flood 
of tears from Courtney — threatening to become hysterical, 
and the rough, kindly woman, acting through a motherly 
impulse, quickly gathered the distressed girl into her arms. 

Thus it was that the one who, not many months before, 
had worn silken garments, and had topped the best so- 
ciety, now sobbed convulsively on the warm, rugged breast 
of a* scrub-woman! Indeed, it was to the sheltering pro- 
22 


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tection of the Rock of Ages the unfortunate girl uncon- 
sciously had come — to the enduring fortress of a sympathe- 
tic, stronger human soul ! 

Protected by the stout arms, and soothed by the kindly 
words of the older woman, Courtney Chester presently, in 
a broken voice, told her story. After listening patiently, her 
protector exclaimed in a cherry brogue : 

“Mercy, child, and there’s nothing you’ve needed in this 
big city but a friend — and now you’ve found one in Mag- 
gie McGuire !” 

And suspecting the girl’s tender sensibilities, the shrewd 
woman then added in a confident tone: “Shure, child, an’ 
I couldn’t make confession to the priest if I did not tell 
you that this very night you can start to work helping me 
scrub these floors.” 

The tender farce of the .strong Irish woman scrubbing 
the floors while her frail young helper, refusing to give up 
in spite of a growing weakness caused by a consuming 
cough, yet each week drawing one half of the wages, con- 
tinued for a fortnight. Only when she waked one morning 
with a high fever and too weak to rise did Courtney realize 
that her strength at last was spent. A few days before this, 
she fortunately had moved her belongings from another 
tenement to the quarters where she could be near Maggie 
McGuire. Her former lodging had been meager and bare 
enough, and in quarters that were crowded enough, but here 
it even was worse. Yet, the change meant the saving of a 
few nickles each week, and that she would be nearer to her 
only friend in the big city. 

During the next few weeks, Courtney passed through a 
siege of very severe illness, during a part of which time 
she was entirely unconscious of her surroundings. She 
was tenderly nursed by Mrs. McGuire, with the assistance 
of her neighbors, and under the direction of a physician 
whom they called. 

Although Maggie Me Guire worked at night time, and 
was supposed to sleep during the day, yet, she spent most 


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339 


of the daylight hours at the bedside of the sick girl. When 
she was not there, a young Jewish woman was in faithful 
attendance. Indeed, the loving care of her lowly friends 
gave Courtney her only desire to get well. She had gone 
through so much prior to her illness that now, as she lay 
on her bed with a burning fever, suffering the pain of a 
racking cough, it seemed to her — in her periods of con- 
sciousness — that she could not endure the agony of further 
living. And even as she grew stronger, only the patient, 
loving, cheery nursing of her faithful neighbors prevented 
her from praying to God that He would spare her from 
again entering into conflict with the cruel world. 

Courtney was in this frame of mind when the two women 
of the East came to take the place of the young Jewish 
woman, and to share with Maggie Me Guire the burden 
of her care. The soft, gentle accents of the oriental women 
were in strange contrast to the rich brogue of the Irish 
woman ; and the sick girl immediately became interested in 
a study of the foreign characters. 

Indeed, before many days, the minister’s daughter with 
the strict orthodox religion was meditating on things con- 
cerning the pagan peoples which she never before had 
thought to dwell upon. She had not been surprised at the 
tender care given her by the faithful Catholic scrub-woman, 
nor the young Jewess, for she«had habitually contacted with 
the most amiable of Catholics and Tews. In spite of her 
father’s terrific denunciations of the priesthood she had 
never questioned the religious beliefs of the Catholics; nor 
had she ever weighed in the scales of her strict religious 
requirements those of the Jewish faith. But, hitherto, she 
always had concepted the pagans as being most terrible 
people. From her earliest days in Sunday school she had 
held the most horrible thoughts of them ; visioning them as 
heathens who worshipped strange and unbelievable dieties, 
who sacrificed children on roasting coals, and burned 
widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. She was 
sure that she never had heard a word of good about them. 


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That the souls of all pagans are lost irretrievably unless 
missionaries enough are sent out to win them to Christian- 
ity she had been taught from childhood. 

It is small wonder, therefore, that the discovery of the 
two pagan women with the Christian hearts gave Courtney 
occasion for much meditation. Already she had passed 
through so many experiences that had been entirely des- 
tructive of her dogmatic philosophies and orthodox beliefs, 
that she now was earnestly endeavoring to reconstruct her 
faith to the end that it might more nearly square with the 
realities of life as she was experiencing it. Hitherto, she 
had always tried to accommodate life’s realities to her dog- 
matic religion; now she was earnestly seeking to interpret 
her religion in terms of life’s actualities. 

Of one thing she became fully persuaded : if, in fact, 
the two oriental women now sitting by her bedside — so 
tenderly solicitous for her comfort — were indeed minister- 
ing to her in the name of false prophets — rather than in the 
name of Christ, — nevertheless, she had no doubt that their 
souls at last would stand a chance of salvation equal at least 
to that of the souls of church-going, professed Christians 
such as had so recently peremptorily dismissed her from 
their service without any regard whatever for her subse- 
quent welfare ! 

The two motherly women *of the East found no occasion 
to tell their patient that they were attending at the bedside 
of other sick people in the tenement. And even had they 
done so, Courtney would not have dreamed that one of these 
other patients in their tender care was a young man whom 
she thought was many hundreds of miles away! 


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341 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MELTING POT 

I. 

The tremendous spread of the activities of the Servers 
to all parts of the state was bringing the loyal reconstruc- 
tionists into opposition to so many set, selfish and unyield- 
ing interests, that their task of reorganizing the social living 
of the people threatened to become impossible of accom- 
plishment. Their organization was an open and heated issue 
in the public life of the state. And the issue, involving as 
it did the very existence of class privilege and the right of 
spoilation of the many by the few, necessarily was intense 
with bitterness, hatred and wrathful denunciation. 

New opposition to the Servers developed at every turn, 
whether as an antagonism to their extension along some 
commercial line, or whether as a resistance to their efforts 
to reorganize some small community in an industrial or 
social way. 

The newspapers, the commercial organizations, the poli- 
ticians of the state, and every holder of some petty privilege, 
present or expected, aligned themselves in a solid phalanx 
against what they termed the new frenzy of the people to 
lay hold of foolish innovations. The Servers were pro- 
claimed as heretics, socialists and anarchists ; and were de- 
nounced as being anti-American, anti-social, anti-Christ, and 
anti-everything else that is contained in the category of con- 
tumely. 

The only hope of those so unjustly misrepresented lay in 
the fact that their leaders did not lose their balance. In 
no respect did they permit the infamous attacks to disturb 
them in their mental or moral equipoise. They steadfastly 
refused to return hatred for hatred ; they did not reply in 
kind to the villification and abuse that was heaped upon 
them ; they submitted to defeat in each instance with good 
graces and stout hearts. They had full faith in Christ’s 


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principles applied ; and they were determined that their 
movement should not fail of its purpose, as many move- 
ments for betterment do fail, because of the attempt to force 
the principles of Christ on others in an un-Christianlike 
manner. And during these days the spirits of the individual 
Servers, because it was planned that it should be so, were 
kept full of gladsome sunshine and unyielding optimism. 

One fact that touched to the quick those who so unsel- 
fishly were endeavoring to spread righteousness, was that 
so many of the occupants of the pulpits joined with the 
opposition in its campaign of calumny. A certain class of 
the ministry denounced and ridiculed the Servers in terms 
so unmeasured that the phrases used would have burned the 
ears of the Master had he stooped to give them hearing. 

This opposition to the reforms advocated by Jack Dal- 
hart and his comrades became intensified throughout the 
state. Even the smaller villages and hamlets became 
divided in their sentiments. Men shut their ears and closed 
their minds, and the earnest welfare workers oftimes found 
themselves and their propaganda condemned and rejected 
without a hearing. 

Fortunately for the new crusaders, they had gotten them- 
selves firmly established on a safe financial basis before 
their movement had grown to the size, or had reached that 
point in its tactics, where it openly was to encroach on the 
holy preserves of the privileged class. Therefore, when the 
new champions faced the old enemies of righteousness and 
justice, they did so not equipped with mere wordy pro- 
paganda, with oral and written pleas, with burning phrases 
that fall on deaf ears, but .they themselves were stoutly 
equipped with the same effective weapons of warfare that 
the enemy possessed. 

It sometimes is said, that money is the root of evil ; but 
money also may be used for high and noble ends, and there- 
by made to serve as an anti-toxin for its own disease. And 
the Servers were equipped, not merely with the divine fires 
of spiritual enthusiasm — as mighty as they are — but their 


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343 


accountrements consisted as well of concrete dollars and 
such other material properties as oftimes terrorized their 
enemies. 

A new Richmond, indeed, had entered the field of social 
and of religious life. And this new warrior came arrayed 
in an “Armor of God” and equipped with a “Sword of 
righteousness” that, in the sight and hearing of the dollar- 
serving hosts of Satan, had an unmistakable concrete and 
metallic ring that struck fear to their cowardly hearts. 

For once the betrayers and destroyers of social justice 
found themselves faced by a champion of the populace 
whom they could not handle in the old manner and with 
the old tactics. This new type of defender of righteousness 
was not to be so easily crushed like the poor pleading agita- 
tor on the street ; nor gagged as the faithless puppet in the 
pulpit ; nor hushed like the obedient minion of the press ; 
nor driven to the wall as the unfortunate champion of higher 
ethics in industrialism. Nor was he to be driven out of 
public life as are so many statesmen who dare raise their 
voices in protest and prophecy. 

The Servers, somehow, showed few vulnerable points of 
attack. The effect of their written propaganda was not so, 
easily to be discounted ; because their newspapers approach- 
ed the same powers as those of the enemy. These papers 
could not be influenced or seriously injured by the with- 
drawal of advertising, because they had their own indepen- 
dent support. Nor were the Servers to be silenced on the 
platform or in the pulpit. Those faithful prophets of God, 
who dared to champion the cause of the new and strange 
crusaders, could not be hushed and forced from their 
charges simply by the withholding of contributions, because 
the Servers themselves were openhanded contributors to 
any who had the faith and daring to preach the practical 
social doctrine of Jesus Christ. 

Nor were the Servers easily to be crippled in their busi- 
ness enterprises; for those who attacked them oftimes 
found themselves reacted upon by the same motives that 


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drove them to the attack. For instance, the Servers could 
not be easily boycotted because if they needed to buy cer- 
tain commodities they had no trouble in finding some dis- 
tributor of those commodities who was willing enough to 
earn his profit in a sale regardless of to whom he was sell- 
ing. And the housewives and other buyers, if they found 
it more economical or convenient to trade at the Service 
stores, did not hesitate to do so. 

During these exciting days, three main points of progress 
constantly held the attention of the Service leaders : How 
to enlarge and extend their own business enterprises ; how 
to bring about the democratization of the industries of the 
state as quickly as possible ; and how to effect the reorgani- 
zation of the social living of the people in ways that tended 
toward the greatest efficiency and toward the releasing of 
energies from pursuits that were unnecessary to human 
welfare. Opposition developed at every point, and the con- 
test grew more intense as it neared that stage of final de- 
cision where either those in opposition would have to give 
way, or the Servers themselves admit their defeat and be- 
gin their retrogression. 

The loyalty and clear vision of the individual members 
of the strange organization gave their leaders the faith to 
approach each new venture with strong confidence. This 
spirit of keen optimism was frequently the deciding factor 
between success and failure. And the fact, too, that the 
Servers did not merely urge theories of reform, but actually 
demonstrated their claims, made progress possible where 
otherwise it would not have been. 

“First demonstrate your theories and then proclaim their 
worth ?” was the advice given us by John Trainor,” re- 
marked Jack Dalhart to Margaret Innington in one of their 
discussions of the tactics of their organization, “and be- 
cause we have consistently followed his advice is to be at- 
tributed what measure of success we have had. If our ef- 
forts to reconstruct the social and industrial life of this 
state had been restricted to mere wordy propaganda, we 


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345 


still would be crying aloud in the wilderness, and could not 
now point with pride to the many towns and villages that 
are so sanely organized, nor to the innumerable industrial 
plants which have been converted to operative ownership.” 

“It was fortunate that we were able to proceed so far 
with our work of reconstruction,” replied Margaret, “be- 
fore those holding so tenaciously to the old order of things 
really waked to the portentious meaning of our movement.” 

“Indeed,” exclaimed Jack, “we could not now be with- 
standing the storm if our movement had not been based 
on practical and firm foundations. But we are solidly 
equipped, and all we need to do is to continue to press 
forward with unabating optimism. Our theories are sound ; 
the people see they are practical ; and soon the masses will 
rally to our support and we will overwhelm the privileged 
few who oppose.” 

“How blind the people are that they are so slow to see !” 
cried Margaret. 

“No the people are not blind,” protested her companion; 
“the people see the evil of existing conditions; but the 
masses remain quiescent in the brutal power of a few strong 
men with distorted visions. If I should call the attention 
of even one of the humblest of our citizens to the fact that 
while it is possible for a few workmen with modern ma- 
chinery to produce in a short time sufficient clothing to 
meet the needs of several thousand men, yet there are untold 
numbers of unfortunates living in rags and nearnakedness, 
the citizen would promptly agree that such a condition is 
most regrettable. And if I should suggest to another that 
while it is possible for a few men using modern methods 
to produce in a short time food enough for the consump- 
tion of hundreds of other men and that, nevertheless, there 
are millions of poorly fed and undernourished, he would 
proclaim that such is an outrageous condition. But the two 
citizens, shrugging their shoulders, would say that such 
conditions have always been, and, no doubt, always will 
be. Still, with God’s help, we shall demonstrate in this 


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state, to His glory, that it is not His will that such injustices 
should prevail among men !” 

“We certainly are making wonderful headway in that 
direction already !” she cried, with enthusiasm. 

“Yes/’ he said, “and those who are responsible for the 
intolerable conditions whereby men are kept hungry and 
ragged, and starved in mentality and spirituality, in spite 
of His abundant provision for us all, are feeling the keen- 
ness of our blade and are giving ground before the pressing 
point! We have demonstrated that men can be free indus- 
trially, that communities can be efficient socially, and it 
shall not be long before these demonstrated truths shall be 
accepted by all men everywhere !” 

“But tell me/’ she cried, “what are we planning to do for 
the man with the plow, the The Man With The Hoe, with . 

’ The emptiness of ages in his face 

And on his back the burden of the world. 

How will you ever straighten up his shape; 

Touch it again with immortality ; 

Give back the upzvard looking and the light; 

Rebuild in it the music and the dream’? 

“We shall free the farmer from his excessive toil,” he 
replied, “by carrying freedom first into the factories and 
work-shops. ‘Those are ever the most ready to do justice 
to others who feel that the world has done them justice,’ 
and when we shall have succeeded in dethroning the auto- 
crats of industry, and the workers have come into their 
own, their hearts will be full of justice to all who labor, 
and it then will not be difficult so to readjust and coordinate 
the functions of all who toil as producers, or in whatever 
other social capacity, to the end that equal justice may be 
the measure of each and everyone. I know that the doubters 
hold tenaciously that it is impossible to shorten the work- 
ing hours of the man on the farm ; but we shall prove their 


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reasoning to be fallacious. Wherever we have organized 
a community and freed energies that were unnecessarily 
engaged in the distributive process, and wherever we have 
put the ban on activities that were merely parasitic in their 
nature, we have endeavored to see that the energies of the 
social units thus released were transfered and superadded 
to the productive forces of society. We shall continue this 
program of seeking to eliminate from the distributive pro- 
cesses all who are not necessary thereto, of putting the ban 
on all social parasitism, and of adding to the productive 
forces to such an extent that the earth may be made to 
yield its abundance without any class or individual being 
required to labor beyond hours that are absolutely neces- 
sary.” 

“But men still will have to labor.” 

“Yes, but there is a difference in toil,” he replied, “Over 
on the dreary wastes of the Egyptian sands, the silent 
Sphinx stands silhouetted against the unbroken gloom of a 
desert sky. To build that towering mass, untold numbers 
of weary men toiled through untold numbers of dreary 
days, sweating in the sizzling heat of a torrid sun, while 
driven to their tasks by the stinging lashes of cruel masters. 
To this day, that voiceless Sphinx stands as silent as does 
the pyramided catacombs of the dead nearby. Its stony 
lips speak no messages of hope or inspiration to man. It 
stands a gloomy sentinel on the silent sands, a massive 
monument to the deadened hope of the labor that builded it. 
But let ten thousand free men to-day build a Sphinx; ten 
thousand free men springing to their task with the joy of 
a noble purpose and a consecrated art; and though the 
stony lips of the massive image they should rear would be 
powerless to utter a vocal sound, yet, the noble monument 
still would convey a message of joy and hope and inspira- 
tion to men throughout the ages.” 

“I know,” she said, simply, “men do not mind labor if 
there is love in it.” 

“Men do not mind labor if there is justice in it,” he re- 


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plied, quickly, “And we shall make justice the rule of labor 
in this state Of course, we shall not be able to accomplish 
this high purpose until our demonstrations have been car- 
ried further, and until the whole of our citizenship have 
been educated in, and imbued with, the newer social ethics. 
Then the force of public morality alone will be sufficient 
to demand that he who would live must labor. Then we 
shall not have the criminal spectacle of some men being 
bom into this world with the power through inherited 
wealth cruelly to force others to ignominious toil, and to 
lives of squalid misery, while they waste their own lives in 
idleness and ease.” 

“But will it ever be. possible to educate men in the higher 
social ethics?” she reflected sadly, “Men do not care to 
learn that which will cause them to yield some prejudice, 
or to give up some petty personal profit.” 

“With the education of that class of men we shall not be 
very much concerned,” asserted Jack strongly, “we shall 
be concerned only with standing sturdily against their ag- 
gressions and their opposition, while striving as best we 
can to inculcate into the younger generations the truth of 
our ideals. In the young manhood of to-day lies the hope 
of the future; and as we succeed in molding our youth we 
shall succeed in shaping the future.” 

“But I think the educative process would need to begin 
before the youths pass out of their teens, for it is those only 
who early develop strong characters who later show the will 
to hold counter to the current theories of the time with 
which they are thrown into intimate contact.” 

“We shall begin with the cradle,” smiled Jack, “we shall 
begin endeavoring to shape the lives of our children in their 
earliest years, as you will learn by reading this current copy 
of our Bulletin, which I’m sure you have not seen.” 

“But I prefer to have you tell me what it says,” she re- 
plied, naively, while folding the paper he handed to her. 

“The idea is not a new one,” he began, “as most ideas 
are not. But we shall attempt to establish on quite a tre- 


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349 


mendous scale what will be a veritable melting pot of 
humanity; into which will go the human metal of all na- 
tions, of all colors, classes, conditions, and creeds. What 
will come out of the crucible? Who can say! Equality? 
Certainly not equality in the literal sense of that word. 
But if it shall develop, nevertheless, that a larger part of 
the dross of humanity has been lost in the refining process, 
and that a purer social manhood is the fortunate resultant, 
who, then, will dare to say that the experiment was not 
worth the while?” 

“Do you mean,” she exclaimed, “that we shall gather 
children of all nationalities, and classes and conditions, 
and give to each the same training and the same opportuni- 
ty for development amid the same childhood environment?” 

“The" Bulletin will enlighten you,” he returned again. 
“If you will read it you will learn there has been offered 
to us as a donation, a magnificent tract of land for just 
that purpose.” 

“And that’s what these beautiful pictures are,” she cried 
with sudden delight, while opening the paper crowded 
with display cuts showing landscape views embracing 
hills and valleys and meadows and running brooks. “And 
so we shall gather,” she continued, quite beside herself 
with joy, “waifs and derelicts and outcasts and orphans 
and provide them with education and training amid these 
glorious surroundings !” 

“Yes, by the thousands,” he exclaimed, with something 
of her own ecstatic fervor. “We shall establish on that 
property educational institutions providing training from 
the kindergarten to the university; and our institutions 
shall have few superiors. In the beginning, there will pass 
through the campus gates, and into the melting pot, babies 
that have been poorly born, boys that are in rags, and chil- 
dren of the street that are unkept, unkempt, unloved and 
unlearned. But once inside, loving hearts and heads and 
hands will begin joyously the work of cleansing their 
bodies, of training their minds, of purifying their little 


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plastic souls that are to ‘course the ages of immortality’ ! 
And how later will the former human derelicts pass with- 
out the campus gates? Surely they will go out as noble 
and upright, wise and unselfish, men and women, of stout 
hearts' and splendid characters! And best of all, they will 
constitute a new citizenship with a grander vision of a 
great world that may be made yet more wonderful still by 
unselfish serving.” 

“But where will you find these derelict children?” 

“In a big city in the East,” he said, “it will be quite easy 
to gather from the poorer and crowded quarters children 
of all nations.” 

“Oh, when you go to the city to gather the waifs, may 
I go with you?” she cried. 

It was on Jack’s lips impulsively to reply to Margaret’s 
request in terms of endearment ; but he suppressed his 
words, as he often had done before, and replied simply : 
“We shall lay our plans only on a minor scale at first, 
and shall have no occasion to seek the waifs in the larger 
cities, but it is my intention soon to visit the big city in 
the East to investigate its over-crowded sections, and you 
must know the pleasure it would give me to have your 
companionship and your advice.” 

“Oh, good !” exclaimed Margaret, “that will be a great 
adventure.” 

Jack was not sure of himself — still less sure of Margaret 
— or else he might, then and there, have begged that the 
trip be made the one joint adventure of their lives. Had 
Margaret been in the habit of receiving his attentions, his 
unusual courtesies even, with less matter-of-factness, Jack 
might have been emboldened to believe that she considered 
their great felicity of companionship as due to much deeper 
cause than the mere comradeship of service or of close 
friendship. The young man had never stopped logically 
to reason that she might be reacting only to his own mat- 
ter-of-factness — and if he would discover a change in her 
manners, he first must change his own. 


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351 


Margaret, on the other hand, had a motive for accept- 
ing Jack’s courtesies in the manner she always did. She 
knew that her heart was made of different emotional stuff 
from that of the man who met all issues with squared jaw 
and regular heart beats. Her emotions on the one day were 
not to be trusted to continue the same into the next day. 
Her heart’s desires changed with the changing of her 
moods; and she knew that she must be certain of her 
mood, and sure of her heart, on that occasion when she 
made the great acceptance. Therefore, she now sought 
purposely to delay that inevitable day, as she had reason 
to believe, when Jack would ask her to become his wife 
in the same matter-of-fact way that he would ask her to 
accompany him on a trip to the big city in the East. 


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CHAPTER XVIII. 

FRIENDS UNITED 

I. 

Yes, Victor Rodney and Courtney Chester presently be- 
came aware of each other’s presence in the same tenement. 
This came about when the young- woman, first to regain 
her strength, acted on the urging of the kindly oriental 
women to visit the sick stranger in a room nearby. The 
immediate recognition, the unconcealed surprise, and the 
great joy displayed by the two friends, caused their nurses 
first to gasp with wonder, and then to glow with delight. 

Victor and Courtney indeed were overjoyed by their 
meeting and by the renewal of their friendship under such 
conditions. Loneliness is a cancer that eats at the heart un- 
der any circumstances ; and the two young people in pass- 
ing through misfortune, sickness and despair, were suffer- 
ing from that supreme loneliness of spirit whereby one 
feels lost in a world without associations. In such weari- 
ness of heart, the sympathy of strangers conveys only a 
sad cheer. To have the spirit really lifted from the depths, 
and the heart once again filled with sunshine, one must 
regain the touch with the home ties and hear from that 
source loyal words of faith and loving good will. 

Courtney immediately assumed the role of head nurse 
for her stricken friend. And with a refined woman’s ap- 
preciation and taste, she quickly succeeded in transforming 
the room in which he lay in a way that seemed magical. 
The wonderful change wrought in the squalid quarters by 
the cultured woman’s hand simply exercising a touch here 
and there, caused the sick man, after he had expressed his 
gratitude, to make a comment full of sadness. 

“Ah,” he murmured, “what a blessing it would be if the 
well bred among us would expend only a small share of 
their energies in the effort to refine the conditions of those 
who, not having been born into refinement, have not that 


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inate appreciation of it that makes them struggle for it 
themselves !” 

Courtney was quite surprised at Victor Rodney’s utter- 
ing such a sentiment. It was the first expression by either 
that was indicative of the extraordinary change that had 
taken place in their conceptions of life. 

“Yes,” she replied, thoughtfully, “we are too prone to 
expect of the lower and less fortunate classes that they will 
lift themselves £ by their own bootstraps’ — is not that the 
expression?” 

“Only too often we do not have the expectancy of their 
being lifted even by themselves,” responded Victor, regret- 
fully, and reminiscently; “we do not care. We plant our 
palaces by the side of the hovels, and endeavor to ignore 
that the latter are there.” 

“I know,” said Courtney, “the well-to-do among us try 
to ignore the uncleanliness and wretchedness and disease 
of our neighbors, and to live as though we were in a world 
of our own. This makes for class levels ; for class distinc- 
tions; for class pride and class hatred. We shall never 
have equality as long as some are diseased and dirty, un- 
couth and unlettered. Cleanliness of each and all, and in- 
telligence of each and all, are the first requisites to the 
equality of all.” 

“Yes,” Victor replied quickly, with much of his old sar- 
castic spirit, “Cleanliness does make a deal of difference. 
Take the sewer-trench digger, for instance, and send him 
through a course of baths, barbering and tailoring, and if 
that is not sufficient to entitle him to a seat at society’s 
best table, deposit a fortune in his name in the bank, let 
it be known, and he will presently lead the grand march 
at the governor’s ball.” 

Courtney laughed her first laugh for many, many 
months. Already, the eyes of the two unfortunates were 
growing brighter, and their spirits were full of quickened 
impulses. Already they were beginning to forget their 
intense misery because they were beginning to think of 
23 


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others ! It is the one sure and only way to gain one’s own 
peace. By losing one’s life one finds it. 

“As I look backward,” said Victor, “it all seems very 
strange to me now, that my vision could have been so 
focused on the single objective of my own ambitious de- 
sires that I was unable to see things in social aspects that 
now appear as clear as the noonday sun.” 

“Our lives in retrospect are mirrors in which we may see 
our clearer pathways in the future,” replied Courtney, 
thoughtfully. 

For the first time since they had come to the big city, 
life was becoming tolerable to them, and more. Now they 
had each other to think of ; self-thoughts in consequence 
gave way to consideration of others ; and self-commisera- 
tion was forgotten in the joy of serving. 

Courtney had insisted, before fully recovering her 
strength, on going out to seek employment in order that 
the burden of their care might be lifted from their lowly 
neighbors. The work she found to do was onerous in its 
nature, and she would indeed have felt that her days were 
full of sordid drudgery had she not been constantly filled 
with gladness because of the opportunity of being able to 
provide for the unfortunate friend who still was unable to 
care for himself. 

Victor, in the meantime, chafed over the delay he was 
experiencing in regaining his strength ; he realized that 
Courtney in her frail condition was bearing too heavy a 
burden in supporting them both. However, she counseled 
patience; and when she returned home at night she would 
interest the sick man in planning the wonderful changes 
they would make in the quarters and in the living condi- 
tions of themselves and their new found friends, when he 
was again able to labor. Gratitude, that rare and noble 
virtue filled their hearts; and they were not long in mak- 
ing the decision to remain in the neighborhood where they 
were, and to serve with their intelligence and their culture 
those who so unstintedly had befriended them. 


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355 


And to what a simplicity did their desires and expecta- 
tions revert! They would have held, in their former days 
of careless living, as mere trifles those many articles of 
comfort and convenience of which they now delighted to 
talk, and to plan to purchase, during the long evenings of 
Victor’s continued illness. And even now, out of her 
meagre earnings, Courtney often would produce, in almost 
a guilty manner, some small article which she had. pur- 
chased during the day that was to add to the comfort of 
her sick friend, or to bring delight to the heart of her 
neighbors. One Saturday evening she came in and, with a 
half-distrustful manner, unwrapped in a tremulous way, 
what proved to be a framed picture of the Christ! She 
stood the picture on the table by the bedside of the sick 
man; and then slipped across the hall to the room of a 
nearby neighbor to return immediately with a carving of 
a small pagan god which she likewise placed on the table 
by the bedside of her sick friend. 

Victor looked at the two images for a moment thought- 
fully and then asked half-doubtingly : “do you intend to 
remove the carving, and in its place to supply the picture 
of the Christ?” 

“No,” she replied promptly, “the pagan beliefs do not 
need such destructive attacks, as I fortunately learned from 
our dear benefactors. The pagan religions simply need ‘in- 
terpretation in the light of our modern Christian faith.’ ” 

Victor was surprised at these words from one whom he 
knew at one time would have stood horrified before the 
graven image. However, he made no reply, and Courtney 
presently went out to replace the carved image in the room 
of its owners, and by its side the picture of the Christ. On 
returning to the sick room she remarked simply : “When 
they have learned to love and to understand our God-man 
of Galilee, they will forget their own carved image of a 
god.” 

“And if they should not learn to worship the Christian 
— our Christian God?” 


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“If they are true to the purest tenets of their own faith, 
all will be well,” she said with firm conviction. “All reli- 
gions lead at last to the one God.” 

Victor raised himself on his elbow, and with awakened 
interest exclaimed : “Ah, I can understand when you speak 
of religion in that way. But I could never appreciate that 
interpretation which consigned the poor pagans to damna- 
tion, and the Christians as I knew them to eternal bliss !” 

“I know,” she replied, “I now realize, with a new under- 
standing of life, why so many refuse to accept the Christian 
religion as its interpretations often are proclaimed from 
pulpits.” 

“These poor people here,” exclaimed Victor, “are not 
interested in the Christ of the doctrines and dogmas ! But 
they could be interested in the sympathetic, healing, saving 
Nazarene if He were brought into intimate and practical 
touch with their daily lives.” 

“Neither are the strong men of the world interested in 
the Christ of the dogmas and doctrines, of the creeds and 
confessions,” asserted Courtney. “The pews of the churches 
today are unfilled because men no longer can be lured into 
listening to ‘empty formulas and meaningless phrases/ But 
we must not be too critical of the church,” she hastily 
added, with her old loyalty. “We still must accept the 
church as a holy institution among men ; and if it is failing 
of its highest mission, it simply is because its leaders are 
lacking in vision, or in the undaunted spirit of sacrifice.” 

“Most of the leaders of the church are grand men,” ex- 
claimed Victor, “and while I often have scorned their silly 
preachings, I still have admired the worth of the men pro- 
claiming them. But in these vital times, and in this world 
of reality, men are not very much interested in the theo- 
logian’s unexplored other-world — which sometimes is por- 
trayed as all Beulah-land, and again pictured with its lake 
of fire and brimstone! Men are more concerned with the 
hells in this world than they are with the bottomless pit 
in that world to come.” 


THE SERVERS 


537 


“That is true,” she said, “and it is hard to forgive the 
church that it does so little to cure conditions such as we 
have found here — which indeed make life a hell for so 
many ! — conditions of wretchedness and misery, filth and 
disease, poverty and crime, and open shame ! And not 
many blocks away are the magnificent churches — and for 
what purpose?” 

She had dropped her voice in sadness ; and then she 
quickly raised it with the exclamation : 

“The church is blind! Its leadership is blind! Why do 
they not see, and why do they not grapple with the in- 
justices of this world in that uncompromising spirit of the 
Christ which carried him through Gethsemane’s garden 
to Calvary’s hill !” 

“The members of the Christian ministry of today,” sug- 
gested her companion with a return of his old irony, “are 
trained in theological seminaries where the native fires of 
their spirits are quenched, and from whence they graduate 
all dolled up in the conventional dress of the time.” 

“And they are as blind as I was,” she said, “they see only 
convention’s side of life, and for them half the world is 
in eclipse !” 

“With the gaining of a new vision myself,” he replied, 
“I can give the lie to my old prejudices and venture to say 
that the poor illiterate agitators we hear proclaiming their 
gospel of Social Justice on the street corners are nearer to 
preaching the pure gospel of Christ than are the highly 
paid ministers with the many degrees who compose their 
weekly orations for the edification of their fashionable 
pews !” 

“Your charge is not unjust,” she said, “I fear that those 
attending the larger churches know very little of the spirit 
of the real Christ. ‘The heart of a toiler is God’s only 
habitation,’ someone has beautifully said, and surely the 
classes worshipping in the costly temples have little to 
claim, in common with the toiling masses !” 

“The larger number of the churches of God in these 


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times,” exclaimed the man, “are supported by those who are 
really the oppressors of their brothers ! The profiteering 
rich are the chief support of the Christian ministry. Every 
church has its wealthy few who are its main reliance for 
funds. And the wealth of these few is coined, too often, 
out of the suffering and sacrifice of their fellows. Will 
God forgive this oppression in the final judgment day?” 

“We do not know,” she said, “where judgment will begin 
and where it will end. We do know that he who was the 
oppressed of all men cried at last from the depths of his 
broken heart : ‘Father, forgive them ; for they know not 
what they do.’ That forgiving cry finds its echo in my 
heart ; and of late I have the same full measure of charity 
for those who are the oppressors as I have of pity for those 
who are the cruelly wronged. For who but God can judge 
of the true motives, of the true part of wilfulness, of those 
who fill the world with so much of woe, because of their 
narrow social and spiritual visions?” 

“Least of all should we attempt to judge,” admitted the 
man with sincere humility ; “we ourselves lingered only too 
long on the list of those with the narrow visions !” 

“The world is full of fault finders,” said Courtney, “and 
their number does not need to be added to. What we need 
is not to be seeking to place the blame for the intolerable 
social and spiritual conditions today ; but rather we should 
be seeking to know from whence the salvation is to come!” 

“It will come,” exclaimed the man earnestly, “it will come 
from those who are the heirs to his unconquered, uncon- 
querable spirit ! I look back now with clear sight,” he 
continued, “and I see here a man and there a man, stand- 
ing for what he knew to be right, to be just, to be holy, 
when all around him contended otherwise. I see men being 
punished for their loyalty to their principles ; I even see 
them being tortured and sent through the flames— but 
they come out with souls that have been fused into steel ! 
I see other men being jeered at ; laughed at and lampooned ! 
but their souls remain undaunted, and the world is richer 


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359 


therefor. History records the names of only a few men 
who counted toward the world’s salvation, and they are 
those who were the inheritors of his unconquered, uncon- 
querable spirit!” 

“ w hat joy!” cried the young woman, clasping her hands, 
“what joy it gives me to know that you, too, recognize that 
the world’s salvation must come through the spirit of Cal- 
vary !” 

“Yes,” said Victor, dropping back on his pillow and 
closing his eyes, “I was as of those who sit in the seats of 
the mighty and pronounce judgment; but since then, I have 
carried the Cross through the Garden and to the Hill, and 
there I found my salvation !” 

Such was the humility of temper which later brought 
Victor Rodney out of his long siege of illness with a new 
and chastened soul ; with a soul sustaining a spirit that 
might sometimes be bent, but that could never be broken 
by any weight in this world. 

He and Courtney took up the burden of life to bear it 
together; for life was, in a large sense a burden to them. 
They were surrounded by conditions that would have 
weighed heavily on the spirits of any who cared for their 
fellows. They endeavored to smile; but there was little 
to provoke one to smiles. Around them was all unclean- 
liness, filth and squalor, and also abhorrent disease; un- 
couth creatures bearing the upright shapes of men and 
women leered and lounged and shuffled about; reeking bar 
rooms were near by; and just beyond were the houses of 
open shame ; crime was there, and ragged pauperism. Little 
children swarmed in the alleys and the gutter ; babies were 
in filthy beds — not babies born in love, but those begotten 
as animals are begotten because nature arranges it so. 

But it wasn’t the existence merely of these awful sur- 
roundings that crushed the spirits of the two young Chris- 
tians ; it was the terrible heart anguish to feel that so few 
seemed to care whether or no there was ever to be any cure 
for the city’s great cancer ! They labored for improvement 


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in their small way; and their souls suffered the acid test 
as they worked without seeing any evident results. 

“The days are passing by,” cried Victor at last, “and 
we still are where we started !” 

It was true, the days had passed; Victor had secured a 
position; they had settled the accounts incurred during 
their illness, and had been able to return many favors to 
their neighbors. But with it all, their accomplishment was 
slight in the eyes of the man who was used to larger ac- 
complishments. For they had little opportunity, indeed, 
for Christian labors, for uplift work of any kind. After 
toiling through the day in order to win bread, they would 
return home in the late evenings, brain-fagged and physi- 
cally fatigued. Others around them pursued the same rou- 
tine. Most of these others, however, would find relief from 
their fatigue in various pleasures, excitants, and stimulants 
— excitants and stimulants that, more often, served only to 
rob the future of its better hope. Victor and Courtney 
could have found their relief and satisfaction in the knowl- 
edge that they were truly helping to evolve better condi- 
tions around them — if they could have felt, indeed, that 
they were accomplishing anything. The magnitude of the 
evil and their small efforts caused Victor at last to utter 
the lament that they were getting nowhere. 

“I know,” cried Courtney with deep sympathy, “it’s hard 
when one cannot see the fruits of one’s labors. If only we 
could co-ordinate our efforts with the efforts of others ! 
I often think of again joining the church — but then, one 
hears only preaching in the church !” 

“Or else, one goes there only to drop a few coins in the 
boxes sustaining missionary efforts half a world away !” 
exclaimed the man, bitterly. “Great God!” he cried with 
grim anguish, “if I soon do not find some larger outlet 
for my nobler energies, I shall be forced to join the dis- 
contented agitators on the streets !” 

“We must be content, with being lowly laborers in the 
Master’s vineyard. The distressing conditions around us 


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361 


which weight so heavily on your spirit resulted from the in- 
teraction of innumerable forces exerted over a long period 
of time; and such conditions will be cured only by the 
counter action of innnumerable saving forces acting 
through the years. Let us be satisfied to know that we 
are contributors in a small way to these reclaiming, re- 
deeming forces.” 

“But I cannot be satisfied with such a philosophy of 
service/' Victor exclaimed, taking a sterner view, “it soon 
would result in my soul’s stagnation! No, little reforma- 
tion will ever be wrought here by individuals acting sever- 
ally. These terrible evils are the product of the greed and 
sinfulness of men in high places and men in low places; 
of stout, aggressive men acting in concert ! And they will 
be overcome only by the onslaught of un-compromising, 
high-minded, unselfish men acting together. I could feel 
a satisfaction, indeed, to know that I was an humble unit 
in such an organization.” 

They often thought of the Servers and on occasions had 
spoken of them. But somehow, there seemed a great gulf 
fixed between themselves and those choice spirits whom 
they left in such loyal labors at home. The circumstances 
of their parting from their friends had been so tragic, and 
so sudden, that now, somehow, they could not feel suffi- 
cient assurance in their hearts to give them courage to 
turn their faces and to retrace their foot-steps to the old 
scenes. 


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CHAPTER XIX. 

JACK IN THE BIG CITY 

I. 

When the time came for Jack to visit the big city in the 
East, as he had foretold, he was deeply chagrined to learn 
from Margaret that she had changed her mind about ac- 
companying him. He was reluctant to accept the excuse 
she gave that she could not leave a special work she had 
recently undertaken. 

“I had planned,” he reproached her, “for you to make a 
rapid survey of the conditions of the submerged as they 
effect child life in order that you might be of valuable 
assistance in our great plans for child redemption.” 

“I know,” she said, “ and I’m sorry to disappoint you.” 

“But your work can wait.” 

“Please do not press me,” she urged with a slight falter 
in her voice, “I’m very sorry that I cannot do what you 
want me to do.” 

“Theres a reason,” he insisted stubbornly, “outside of 
the one you have assigned.” 

“Perhaps there is,” she admitted frankly, “but must I 
tell it to you, Jack?” she pleaded in a voice that spoke a 
great weariness ; for Margaret was growing increasingly 
heart-sick over the distressing tangle of her affections. “If 
I am actuated by motives which I do not wholly compre- 
hend myself, cannot you be less exacting than men are wont 
to be, and not press to know what I could not make you 
understand?” 

He felt the justness of her reproach and was more humble 
and sympathetic in his reply. 

“I comprehend something of the trials that are yours, 
Margaret; but I had thought, honestly, that the trip would 
be a relief and a relaxation to you ; that it would be some- 
what of a joyous vacation. Please believe me, I would 
make no selfish demands on you whatever.” 


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“I am sure you would not,” she replied gratefully, “there 
are few men who are as thoughtful and unselfish as your- 
self. But I still feel there are reasons why I should remain 
here.” 

Jack had been less selfish, indeed, in his demands than 
had either of her other suitors for favor; and had Margaret 
been of the lighter minded class of young women who look 
upon heart throbs and heart palpitations as the only signs 
of love, she would at no time have considered Jack Dalhart 
as a suitor for her hand. But Margaret gained increased 
wisdom with the dawning of each new day, and she was 
many days from that period in a woman's life when she 
is so apt to mistake what seems to be a passionate love for 
what in fact is only a flash in the pan. She had the wisdom 
to know that the heart affinity between men and women is 
not unlike the affinity between pieces of metal. There 
cannot be a close and lasting metal weld, regardless of 
what sputtering and flashing of sparks there may be in the 
heat of contact, unless there is perfect affinity between all 
component elements. 

Because of her knowledge of these things, Margaret was 
cautious to the point of distress regarding her affections. 
She had been slow to respond to the passionate wooing of 
Victor Rodney because she had not known if the fires of 
his affections would not in time have burned themselves 
out. She hesitated to gauge the seemingly ardent love of 
the young doctor as being more than a fleeting affection 
born of the springtime of youth which would prove wholly 
evanescent. Margaret did know that everything about Jack 
Dalhart was solid and sure and lasting; but she feared 
greatly that his unemotional, unromantic love would not 
prove fully satisfying to her soul. 

But even Jack of late was becoming more ardent in his 
attentions to her, and she was not surprised now when he 
was moved by a motive of jealousy to exclaim : 

“You will not go with me, Margaret, because you fear 
Forstner would not understand! And perhaps you are 


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right,” he admitted, unwillingly. “He is at a crucial point 
in his career. He confessed to me only last night that he 
did not see how he longer could hesitate to cast his fortune 
with ours.” 

“It is inevitable that Doctor Forstner should join the 
Servers,” she answered, her eyes lighting with a great 
spiritual exaltation, “for it would not be possible for one 
of his character to be thrown in contact with our noble 
endeavors and to not lend us his aid.” 

“I do not agree with you that it is inevitable,” protested 
Jack; “your influence has been and will be, the deciding 
factor, Margaret. Doctor Forstner is having to overcome 
not only the opposition of his family and friends, but he 
is seeking to make a choice contrary to his own convention- 
al convictions. Who can say to what extent he is being 
influenced by the great reward he hopes will be his !” 

“Aye, and who can say,” sighed the young woman with 
a quiver in her voice, “what disappointment will be his! 
“Why is it,” she protested vehemently, yet out of the tend- 
erness of her nature, “why is it the province of women to 
bring sorrow to men?” 

“If there is no wilful or careless causing of sorrow,” 
contended Jack, reassuringly, “there should be no conse- 
quent burden on a woman’s soul. If a man sets out to 
pluck the rose of a woman’s heart, he must not complain 
of the pricks of the thorns that protect the flower.” 

“No,” replied Margaret sadly, “but it is distressing that 
some should suffer the stings without the reward of the 
blossoms.” 

Jack was forced to set out on his journey alone and, 
consequently, with far less joyous spirits than he had anti- 
cipated. He had visited the big city many times before, 
and always, when he alighted from the train and mixed 
with the surging throngs it brought to him the same feel- 
ing of depression. For what good purpose does humanity 
swarm in the city? For greater individual happiness? For 
increased social efficiency? These questions Jack always 


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answered to himself in the negative. He realized that the 
city is necessary. But not the greater city with its chaos 
and confusion ; its discordant sounds and nerve racking 
vibrations ; its whirl and go to no necessary efficient end ; 
its misery; its degradation, its sorrow; its flippant pleas- 
ures ; its crime. Jack felt these things now as he mingled 
with the surging masses. But the optimism that is inherent 
in humanity does not permit one to mingle long with the 
crowd and to not catch the contagion of spirit with which 
the throng faces the issues of life. Those hurrying along 
by his side had set purposes in their faces as Jack could 
see. Some were set in sorrow; others in joy; a few were 
grim ; but none were merely stolid ; not one face did Jack 
see that showed without a purpose. His own spirits re- 
vived and he sprang forward with his mind again self- 
reliant, and his face set firm with the thought of his own 
purpose. 

Fortunately for the continued bouyancy of his spirits, 
Jack’s business carried him first to that section where only 
the city’s better side is seen. Cleanliness, intelligence, and 
even magnificence of art were the environment here. But 
this only served to prepare his vision for the contrast when, 
at length, he turned his steps toward that section which good 
men, if not God have forgotten ! — to that quarter where the 
sunlight’s rays are not always permitted to brighten, and on 
which the pitying gaze of the stars is fixed to see only sor- 
row, misery and shame. 

Of course, Jack had not the slightest thought that he 
might find his long missing friends in the big city. And, by 
many, it would be considered more than a mere coincidence 
if, presently, he should make his way toward their very 
door. Yet, our hearts are magnets that are mysteriously 
fixed to draw, over any barriers and through any distance, 
the heart-currents of those whose vital palpitations have 
been set to throb in unison with our own. Therefore, it is 
not so strange that the needle of Jack’s course should quick- 
ly turn to guide him to where it was so meant that he should 


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go. As he made his way along the crowded sidewalk with 
eyes set ahead, but apparently without having reached any 
decision as to his destination, he suddenly saw in the near 
distance a shape and form so familiar as to leave no doubt 
whose it was. 

Jack sprung forward with a glad cry on his lips and fol- 
lowed fast after the receding figure of Victor Rodney. The 
latter was hurrying homeward, and was losing no time. So 
sure was Jack of overtaking his friend that he presently 
permitted his eyes to waver a moment from their steady 
gaze ahead ; and in this moment Victor turned suddenly into 
a small bakery to make a purchase. When Jack resumed 
his gaze, and failed to see the familiar outline ahead, he 
made a hurried and frantic rush forward, but after passing 
two street intersections, he realized that he again hopelessly 
had lost his friend ! 

With a heavy and anxious heart, the crestfallen man 
faithfully haunted that section of the city during most of 
the hours of the next three days and nights. He circled 
around the crowded blocks with eyes constantly alert, while 
always turning over in his mind other plans for endeavor- 
ing to locate his old comrade. At last, however, his own 
faithful vigil was rewarded. 

This time he caught sight of Victor just entering the 
doorway, of a tenement building not half a block away. 
Jack bounded forward on the run, calling to his friend. 
Victor did not hear, and when Jack reached the tenement 
door he rushed up two flights of stairs following fast after 
the figure of his friend. When he reached the second land- 
ing he saw Victor just closing the door to a room. Jack 
hurried forward and impulsively and unceremoniously 
shoved open the same door. Then, what was his consterna- 
tion to see in the middle of the room the missing Courtney 
Chester standing by the side of his friend ! Jack was too 
dumbfounded for speech. For a fleeting second his mind 
swam in a whirl and a tightness clutched at his throat. The 
usually self-controlled man for once completely lost his 


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stolid poise, for he had realized, with one flashing glance 
into the sombre eyes of the young woman before him, that 
she meant more to him than anyone else! And yet, the 
wheel of destiny seemed to have separated them ! 

Such were the emotions that agitated him. And Victor 
and Courtney, too, for a passing moment, remained gripped 
in speechless surprise at the appearance in the door. But 
the tense situation did not hold longer than a fleeting 
moment, for the two soon had Jack in their arms and verit- 
ably showered him with caresses and other evidences of 
their joyous welcome without any regard whatever for 
seemliness. 

The prodigal son had a poor welcome compared with 
that extended by the reunited friends. For Courtney 
Chester the world suddenly had shot past the night line 
and the glory of a new day had burst forth ! The seem- 
ingly impassible gulf between the then and now had in a 
moment of time, been bridged with an exultant cry ! Her 
unstilled throbbing heart unmistakably told her these things. 
The past was a hideous dream, but life had not ended with 
the dreaming of the dream. Suddenly awakening, she knew 
that between herself and the man she loved there was no 
past ! Conquering love was in her heart. 

A woman knows when she loves synchronous with its 
birth. But a man is never quite sure that he loves — until; 
alas ! sometimes, too late ! This torture of soul Jack en- 
dured while, with the mask of a smile covering his face, 
yet with stern accusing eyes sometimes directed towards 
the young woman, he returned their happy greeting and 
then related the sequence of events that so fortunately had 
brought him to their door. All the while, his ears were 
constantly alert for any expression, and his eyes were 
vainly searching every detail of the room for some slight 
evidence, to give further interpretation to the present status 
of the couple. Yet the man’s sore and heavy heart never 
doubted for a moment what that status was. Jack knew 
that Courtney once had possessed a portrait of himself ; now 


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he saw no evidence of it, but his eyes quickly had glued 
themselves on a framed portrait of his friend ! O Jealousy, 
thou “magnifier of trifles !” 

The anxious lover dared not ask the couple outright as 
to their present relations. But presently the faintest trace 
of a hope was cast on his firm conviction that the two had 
been joined as one, when presently Victor remarked: “I 
will go to my room/’ This, then, was her room ! Jack’s eyes 
roved again the walls and every nook and corner searching 
for further assurance that it was her’s alone. As he noted 
the brave effort that had been made to adorn the grim walls, 
and to garnish the ungainly corners, to the end that she 
sometimes might be made to forget her ghastly surround- 
ings, he turned toward Courtney with the deepest sympathy 
in his heart. And then, Oh ! blessed assurance ! the message 
he read in her eyes and the words that fell from her lips ! 

“Jack,” she said, tears trickling on her cheeks, after 
Victor had left them, “you cannot comprehend what your 
visit means to us ! We considered that the past was closed, 
and that with its closing we had lost forever those friends 
we held so dear. How my heart has bled for darling Mar- 
garet since the day we parted ! And poor Victor, he has 
tried so hard to be brave and to keep his thoughts out of 
the past — but his heart must indeed have needed to be 
granite! Dear, dear friend, your coming has opened the 
gates of the future for us, and what a new earth this is 
today !” 

Jack could not trust himself with words, and he rose and 
took her hands in his. It would have been unmanly for 
him to have taken advantage of her excited condition and to 
have revealed his heart’s supreme desire. But he sought 
to relieve the throb of her feelings by turning the trend of 
her thoughts toward others — always a glorious refuge and 
sure salvation. 

“At home,” he said, “the earth has indeed become a new 
place for many, many people. Flowers are blooming in the 
hearts of many where only weeds grew before. And the 


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end is not yet. For the people out our way have caught a 
vision of a new earth that can be made glorious simply by 
good men willing that it should be so, in accordance with 
God’s gracious plan !” 

“I know,” she exclaimed with approval, “the Servers are 
doing things! How often Victor and I, with our hearts 
full of humility and contriteness of spirit, have longed to 
feel worthy to return and to join your noble band !'” 

“Unselfish desire is the first requisite to the rendering 
of efficient service,” he replied gravely; “and when one has 
humility in one’s heart one has a priceless jewel. Had you 
returned, I cannot tell you how much we would have wel- 
comed you.” 

“I can feel now,” she remarked, with firm conviction, 
“that I am fit to serve others. In the past I saw as ‘through 
a glass darkly’ ; but now I see with a vision that has been 
cleared by my having trod the same pathway of thorns that 
the Master trod. Life’s vanities mean ^nothing to me now. 
And along with the others, I have thrown into the discard 
all religious vanities and husks. I would not pause for one 
moment now to argue with you as to whether we come into 
this world pre-destined, or undestined; nor would I quibble 
with any one as to whether or not baptism by sprinkling is 
sufficient or immersion is necessary. Christ is divine in 
my heart forever. I would not pause for one moment of 
time in his service to contend whether He is the divine Son 
of God, or is God himself! ' If faith proceeds from works, 
or works from faith, I do not know, I will not quibble; I 
only pray for the privilege to walk humbly in His foot- 
steps, and to feed — literally — His lambs and His sheep.” 

“Jesus Christ, the carpenter of Nazareth, the discoverer 
of eternal laws,’ the ‘formulator of the inherent methods,’ 
the ‘definer of fundamental principles,’ — whether He be the 
Son of Man, Son of God, or both, — is our inspiration and 
the leader of all our endeavors!” exclaimed Jack with deep 
fervor; and continued: “I do not know whether the Christ- 
child was formed of the same stuff as you and I, or of the 
24 


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same stuff as the Holy Ghost, or was molded of the same 
substance as God. We do know that history affords no 
other figure, that our experience affords no other teacher 
toward whom we can turn as we can to the Master with 
deep assurance that we are facing Truth in all its sublimity ! 
He was the Perfect Man ! And it is toward perfection that 
the world must struggle. And He told us how in simple 
words, in parables easily comprehended. There was no 
confusion of ecclesiasticism about His teachings; no in- 
volved doctrine and stupid creeds ; no rituals and ceremonies. 
His theology was the simple theology of the fisherman, of 
the vineyard worker — yet it was an eternal philosophy ! 
‘Love,’ ‘peace/ ‘brotherhood/ ‘fellowship/ ‘service/ these 
are the simple timbers for constructing the Social Temple, 
He told us two thousand years ago. But the world has not 
believed, has hardly more than experimented ; and today, 
widows mourn, mothers weep, and the world around it has 
drawn a shroud of bitter woe/’ 

“God save the unheeding world !” cried Courtney in an- 
guish. 

“Men must save the world !” cried Jack, springing to his 
feet — “the Son of God has told us how, and the glorious task 
is ours ! Over on the blood-soaked, sun-kissed fields of 
France men have died to save the world; are there not 
others in the same uncounted numbers that are willing to 
live to save the world?” 

“Listen !” cried Courtney, clutching his arm. 

Though the open window, across the narrow alley, floated 
the tender music of a woman’s voice. The words were from 
a familiar church hymn. “She means it !” cried Courtney, 
as they stood listening to the tender notes of the singer, 
throbbing with deep faith and intense loyalty: 

“I will go with Him, with Him, all the way! I will go 
with Him, with Him, all the way !” 

A curse flared up from the walk below, and a discordant 
clang and clash followed fast as a heavy wagon rumbled 
over the pavement stones. 


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“Ah,” sighed Courtney, turning from Jack, “the piteous 
part is she means it ! The church stirs the embers of divine 
enthusiasm in us, and then lets the flames flicker and die 
without ever being turned to any grand purpose ! It is as 
though one welded a wonderful tool and then let it rust 
for want of use !” 

“The church has performed, a glorious mission in the 
world by its inculcation of Christian principles,” declared 
Jack, “but it has failed woefully in securing the practical 
application of those principles to every-day affairs. And 
the most lamentable fact, possibly, is that the church some- 
times leaves it in doubt as to whether it really demands the 
actual application of those principles as being necessary to 
the salvation of men’s souls ! The wealthy man of bare con- 
ventional virtue, by merely professing faith in Christ’s vica- 
rious suffering, oftimes stands higher in the councils of the 
church than does some lowly laborer in the Master’s vine- 
yard.” 

“But there are signs that the church is astir and thirsty 
for a new crusade,” cried Courtney loyally; “the sudden 
volcanic eruptions of the earth which has sent stricken hu- 
manity scurrying pell-mell before the red lava of war, has 
awakened and aroused the church as nothing else could 
have done. The prophets of ecclesiasticism, in the main, 
are powerful men with wonderful visions, and they are men 
who are ready, once they have realized the need, to make 
any sacrifice ! Such men, in the future, will not be content 
merely to fill the earth with the vapors of vocal discourse ! 
Nor will they rest content with the endeavor merely to suc- 
cor a small scattering of individual souls while society as 
a whole goes to perdition.” 

“Let us pray that will be so,” cried Jack, “we can believe 
it when we see the church of the future closing its councils 
to the rich who ‘pay tithe of mint and anise,’ but who 
indeed, make of the churches ‘whited sepulchres’ ! Scorning 
compromise in the name of Christ — who yielded not one jot 
or jittle — the great prophets of God of tomorrow must de- 


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mand that the robes of hypocrisy be stripped from those 
who promise, and who pay, but who never practice the 
Christian virtues of justice, mercy and brotherhood! Money 
coined from the misery of fellow men must no longer buy 
the rich man a place of respectability in the chancels of the 
church. The indulgences of tomorrow must be refused 
with the same stringing lash of scorn as fell from the lips 
of the fearless Luther four hundred years ago. This may 
mean a hungry ministry ; but the prophets of God in the 
past showed themselves worthy of sacrifice ! It may mean 
a lesser church, but who doubts that in time its spires will 
reach the skies !” 

“I do not doubt it,” affirmed Courtney, emphatically; “I 
have full faith in the church eventually as a conquering, 
saving force. Mistakes have been made and will be made, 
but to think of a modern civilization without the church 
is impossible. If the church has erred, it simply has been in 
not carrying its gospel far enough. The church has stopped, 
and rested, with the effort to rescue and regenerate the 
souls of individual men, while holding aloof from the larger 
and vital social problems.” 

“Of course, the 'regeneration of individuals is necessary 
to the regeneration of the whole,” admitted Jack. “ ‘To 
think of constructing a Christian civilization from individu- 
als whose own lives are untouched by the gospel is as futile 
as to think that a democracy can be organized by savages,’ 
someone wrote, and I agree with this sentiment, but I insist 
that the regenerated units whose lives are thus touched by 
the gospel must be organized, co-ordinated, and unified into 
a formidable whole, with a saving mission to perform, or 
else they soon scatter in a confusion leading to a chaos of 
degeneration. Thank God, in our poor way, we are striving 
to pick up where the church leaves off ! The divine en- 
thusiasm which the church sjirs in the souls of men, we are 
endeavoring to turn to practical, saving purposes!” 

“And I’m sure, with wonderful success !” cried Courtney. 


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“What joy it gives me to know that we are soon to join 
your forces !” 

Jack reached out and clasped her hand in his. 

“And Victor?” he inquired anxiously, “Are you sure of 
Rod?” 

“As sure as I am of myself,” smiled Courtney. “Victor 
too, has acquired that ‘dreadful power of feeling the world’s 
woe,’ And he is now ‘athirst to spend his fire and restless 
force’ in doing his part to rescue suffering humanity from 
the quagmire of misery !” 

“But his legal profession?” insisted Jack. 

“The fictions of mere abstract justice,” she exclaimed, 
“no longer hold interest for the man whose vital energies 
are demanding to be expended in the reality of hewing and 
carving and molding the things that can be seen ! How oft 
of late has poor Victor uttered a deep cry of longing to 
gather into his arms, as it were, a thousand of the off-cast, 
crawling children swarming in these murky dens and to 
transplant them to pastures of our western flowers !” 

“He shall have his wish,” cried Jack, exultingly, “for we 
are planning to transplant outcast and needy children by 
the thousands ! Why not ? Simple decency and clean man- 
hood and womanhood demand it ! Listen to the decisive 
words of the late Jack London — said of England’s metro- 
polis — ‘Where sights and sounds abound which neither you 
nor I would care to have our children see and hear is a 
place where no man’s children should live, and see and hear 

For here, in the East End, the obsenities and 

brute vulgarities of life are rampant. There is no privacy. 
The bad corrupts the good, and all fester together. Inno- 
cent childhood is sweet and beautiful ; but in East London 
innocence is a fleeting thing, and you must catch them be- 
fore they crawl out of the cradle, or you will find the very 
babies as unholy wise as you. 

“ ‘The application of the Golden Rule determines that 
East London is an unfit place in which to live. Where you 
would not have your own babe live, and develop, and gather 


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to itself knowledge of life and the things of life, is not a fit 
place for the babes of other men to live, and develop, and 
gather, to themselves knowledge of life and the things of 
life. It is a simple thing, this Golden Rule, and all that is 
required. Political economy and the survival of the fittest 
can go hang if they say otherwise. What is not good 
enough for you is not good enough for other men, and 
there’s no more to be said.’ ” 

“Yes,” she exclaimed, “let us ask further in the words of 
the poet: 

“Is it well that while we range with Science glorying in 
the time, 

City children soak and blacken soul and sense in city slime ? 
There among the gloomy alleys Progress halts on palsied 
feet ; 

Crime and hunger cast out maidens by the thousands on 
the street; 

There the master scrimps his haggard seamstress of her 
daily bread ; 

There a single sordid attic holds the living and the dead ; 
There the smoldering fire of fever creeps across the rotted 
floor, 

And the crowded couch of incest, in the warrens of the 
poor.” 

“Ah, let us turn our thoughts to brighter things — and 
places !” exclaimed Jack, noting the pain and anguish 
spreading over her face. “Let us summon Rod, and begin 
immediately to lay our plans for hurrying back to that dear 
old state where songs are in the hearts of men, and laught- 
er is in the eyes of children.” 

Unsummoned, Rodney soon entered the room, and Court- 
ney, catching the tense expression of longing and desire 
clouding his face, reproached herself for her selfish claim- 


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ing of Jack’s company, and she instantly found occasion 
to leave the men together. 

Jack flung his arms around his friend with deep affec- 
tion and cried : “Pack your trunk, old man, and let’s head 
for God’s country where new temples are arising to glorify 
the monarch man’s dominion !” 

Victor’s lip drooped into a poor smile as he slowly shook 
his head. 

“I’m afraid I’ve been expatriated from the old country, 
Dal, and have become lost forever to the old surroundings !” 

Jack was not surprised at the attitude of his friend; he 
knew the poignant nature of the man into whose soul 
wounds sank deep with scars not easily to be healed. He 
feared that Victor’s cynicism was ineradicable; a peculiar 
cynicism that caused him to view self-inflicted wounds as 
though they were hurts from the purposed thrusts of others. 
Yet, Jack did not forget that Victor had a splendid nobility 
of character that would lead him to any length to repair 
a wrong done to another. 

“You’ve a duty you cannot escape, Rod. While I can- 
not promise you a sure reward for the fulfillment of that 
duty, I must tell you there is one waiting for you to extend 
many apologies for the past !” 

The lover’s lips grew taut with a deeper pain as he 
listened to the words of his friend that he could not promise 
him a sure reward. He accepted this pronouncement as a 
sure confirmation of the sentence his own heart had already 
pronounced. And he again slowly and sadly shook his 
head. 

“I can be most certain, Dal,” he said, “of fulfilling my 
duty to her by not causing her any further hurt or causing 
any reopening of the old wounds.” 

“But Margaret should have the right of choice, Rod ; and 
you owe this duty to yourself, as well as to her !” 

Victor’s head sank on his breast in deeper despair, and 
tears swelled into his eyes, as he said with almost a sob. 


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“I knew my heart was telling me right; I knew I had for- 
feited my chances !” 

“But you haven’t, man!” cried Dalhart, “Margaret has 
kept the old fires burning, and you have an equal chance 
without favor !” 

“But why,” cried Rodney, lifting his head with manly 
determination, “why should I, who have caused her only 
heartache, anguish, suffering and cruel suspense, now go 
back to complicate a fair situation if she has indeed found 
it in her heart to love another!” 

“Because it is only measurable love she has found, Rod. 
You left her with a heart full of suffering and yearning, and 
she naturally turned in time seeking the only balm and 
solace there is for such anguish of soul : love from some 
source.” 

“During all the days of our acquaintance,” said the man, 
with sorrowful reflection, “I never caused her anything but 
anxiety, heartache, and suffering; and for myself, there 
has been only wretchedness and multiplied tribulation! In 
God’s name, what good thing can come out of such 
miseries !” 

“Triumphant love can,” said Dalhart with wonderful con- 
viction; “it is out of such elements of wretchedness and 
misery — through divine enchantment — that the purest love 
is engendered ! There are a thousand reasons, Rod, why 
you should go with us !” 

“At least,” cried the distressed man, with new determina- 
tion, “I can return to offer humble apologies for the past, 
and to demonstrate in her presence that I can, in a manly 
way, bear the cross I have fashioned for myself.” 

“That’s the stuff !” cried Dalhart, “that’s the stuff show- 
ing a stout heart and a strong soul, and a spirit that shall 
conquer in the end!” 

Instantly, after reaching the determination to return 
home, Victor felt as though a strange and awkward burden 
suddenly had been lifted from his soul, and it was with a 
voice keen with a new exhilaration that he cried : 


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“If we’ve made the choice, Dal, and are to face the fu- 
ture, then let’s face it soon!” 

And when Courtney presently returned she instantly be- 
came horrified to see the men snatching her pictures from 
the wall, tossing her things into piles, and even crushing 
her clothes into bundles! 

“But we can’t go like thisl” she cried, “we can’t rush 
away without the others !” 

“Why, what others?” demanded Jack. 

“Why, there are lots of others,” exclaimed Courtney, 
“who must go with us if we have to carry them bodily !” 

“So there are!” cried Rodney, in instant support; “we 
have many friends here that we must free from these de- 
basing surroundings !” 

“We’ll take the whole bloomin’ big city if it wants to 
move,” laughed Jack, “we’ll not leave one behind who wants 
to go.” 

And they did not. Maggie McGuire was one who em- 
braced with delight the opportunity to leave forever the 
slavery of scrubbing floors through long night hours. She 
was quite willing to flee to that Land of Promise where she 
was to earn her bread in one-half the hours of toil ; and 
where, they told her, she would have many opportunities for 
quickening her Irish wit and for acquiring the lesser rudi- 
ments of knowledge. 

The last thing the joyous group did was to go with Jack 
while he dispatched a message to Margaret: 

“Look for me soon, bringing you a joy of which you per- 
haps have dreamed. Jack.” 


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CHAPTER XX. 

THE FUTURE. 

I. 

On the train homeward bound Jack and Victor found 
many opportunities for discussing their plans. 

“We have reached the point,” Jack told his friend, 
“Where our forces can control the governmental machin- 
ery of our state. And, of course, we must set about recon- 
structing that machinery in accordance with our high ideals. 
While the changes necessarily will be radical, at the same 
time, we must endeavor to make the transition from the 
old ways to the new as little disruptive of current theories 
as possible.” 

“But are you sure you will have the support of the popu- 
lace in your innovations?” asked Victor, still somewhat 
doubtful himself of untried theories of government. 

“We shall have full support,” averred Jack; “the evils 
of our present system are known to all men. The people, in 
the past, were led to withhold their sanction to any changes 
simply because unscrupulous men, interested in maintaining 
the existing system, always succeeded in misrepresenting 
the meaning and probable effect of the changes that were 
proposed. But you know the people cannot be fooled all 
of the time, and they now are willing to experiment with 
changes — knowing that conditions cannot be made more 
intolerable than they are. Besides, if we need a high au- 
thority for the right radically to alter our form of govern- 
ment, this shall be it” — and Jack took from his pocket a 
pamphlet and read slowly, emphasizing certain phrases : 

“‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: — that all men 
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain inalienable rights : that among these, are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these 
rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving 
their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, 


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whenever any government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and 
to institute a new government, laying its foundations on 
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as 
to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and 
happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments 
long established should not be changed for light and tran- 
sient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the form 
to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same ob- 
ject, evidence a design to reduce them under absolute des- 
potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such 
government, and to provide new guards for their future 
security !” 

When Jack had concluded reading, he asked quietly, “Do 
you recognize the source of our authority?” 

“Any schoolboy would,” avowed Victor, “but I’m afraid 
the words of that immortal document have gone out of the 
memory of the men who now shape the affairs of our state.” 

“Nevertheless, it shall be our high authority,” declared 
Jack; “and I have no doubt that its decisive phrases will 
find a ready response in the hearts of our fellow citizens 
Already they are convinced that a continuation of the pres- 
ent method of conducting our public affairs is not the way 
’most likely to affect their safety and happiness.’ they know, 
‘that a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing in- 
variably the same object,’ has made inanimate, material 
properties more sacred in the eyes of the law, in effect, 
than human life itself. The toiling masses know, and feel, 
that the industrial, the economic, autocracy which they have 
over them, bulwarked by public law and governmental ma- 
chinations, and with the feudal powers it affords the for- 
tunate few, is as intolerable and insufferable as was that 
ancient autocracy that led the author of the instrument from 
which I have just read to indite its immortal phrases!” 


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“But tell me,” said Victor, “have you already formulated 
a definite program for reconstructing our state govern- 
ment ?” 

“Only tentatively in my own mind,” replied Jack ; “it will 
be necessary, of course, for us to summons the brightest 
minds among our adherents to an immediate consideration 
of a definite program.” 

“And the tentative program of your own, would you 
mind outlining that to me?” continued Victor. 

“With the warning and reservation that I have not really 
given mature consideration to any certain plans, I will offer 
a few suggestions,” said Jack. “In the first place, for our 
present bulky machinery of government, with its unwieldly 
legislative bodies that so often do things to shock the sensi- 
bilities of our clearer-thinking citizenship, we must substi- 
tute some more compact form. As the present management 
of the affairs of our municipalities seems very satisfactory, 
I think I would shape our state government along the same 
lines. I know that this idea when advanced by others has 
been subjected to strongly adverse criticism. But with the 
friendly spirit that we have engendered, I think we could 
give such a plan a fair trial. Large private corporations 
are successfully managed by presidents and boards of di- 
rectors, and I think the business affairs of our state could 
be quite as well managed by a governor and board of com- 
missioners. 

“I would suggest, say fifteen commissioners, elected to 
head specific departments, such as the departments : of fin- 
ance, of transportation, of markets, of health, etc. The 
commissioners would be the executive heads of their re- 
spective departments. The governor, as chief executive, 
would afford the necessary co-ordination between all de- 
partments. The legislative power and function would be 
in the commissioners, with the privilege, by two-thirds vote, 
of overriding the governor’s veto.” 

“The changes you suggest sound practical,” admitted Vic- 
tor. “Certainly, we could not imagine, in this advanced day, 


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a more bungling, inefficient method of managing public af- 
fairs than we now have. The so-called representative form 
of government was well suited, no doubt, to those civiliza- 
tions that had no rapid methods of transportation, or quick 
means of communication. But today, with our whole citi- 
zenship in the most intimate touch with one another, and 
with the current needs of the time, as they are, the people 
are insisting on the right to be heard direct and not through 
so-called representatives that prove, more often, to be rep- 
resentatives only of special or private interests. Viewing 
things as I do now from the standpoint of the masses, I 
can readily see that our present legislative bodies, composed 
as they are of a few statesmen and many politicians, are 
nothing but obstructions in the pathway of sane social pro- 
gress/' 

“I am delighted that you agree with me," exclaimed Jack. 
“Certainly, the people need to take their public affairs out 
of the hands of the hordes of wrangling, bungling, self- 
seeking politicians. They can quickly express themselves 
direct on any large questions of moment, and leave the 
minor and technical and scientific and administrative mat- 
ters in the hands of a few trusted men of large capacity. 
You will agree with me further, no doubt, that our state 
must immediately acquire the ownership of all strictly public 
utilities, such as the railway, telegraph, and express sys- 
tems ?” 

“That will be quite necessary," conceded Victor, “if we 
are to organize our affairs on an efficient basis. Certainly, 
we must do away with all the tangles of competing lines, 
wires, and intricate machineries, and must eliminate all the 
enormous waste of duplicated labors." 

“Indeed," cried Jack, “by properly reorganizing our sys- 
tems of transportation and communication, it will be pos- 
sible to free the energies of sufficient social units that, if 
the energies of these units are turned to the production of 
food, their efforts alone will be sufficient to remove the 


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further shame of under-fed, under-nourished children in 
our state.” 

“Not only so,” suggested Victor, “but under state owner- 
ship, instead of the present needless paralleling lines of rail- 
way, serving only restricted portions of our state, we shall 
have routes sanely planned to serve all sections in a thor- 
oughly co-ordinated manner.” 

“Quite true,” agreed Jack, “for the competent men we 
shall place at the head of the affairs of our state undoubt- 
edly will undertake immediately a comprehensive system of 
public works, such as the construction of railways, the build- 
ing of public roads, the digging of canals, and the reclama- 
tion and irrigation of land for agricultural purposes. With 
these proposals suggested so far there will be found little 
conflict of opinion among our citizens. But when we go 
further and contend that God put all the wealth of the earth, 
of the mines and forests and plains and prairies, here for all 
his children alike, and that when any men withhold the 
use of these possessions from their fellows, they are doing 
no less than embezzling the birth rights of their brothers — 
then there will be many who, more than ever before, will de- 
nounce us as extreme and dangerous fanatics.” 

“Which will make little difference to us,” growled Vic- 
tor, grimly. “But how do you propose for the state to ac- 
quire the ownership of the mines, for instance? It cannot 
resort to confiscation.” 

“I began by saying that we would endeavor to make our 
reconstruction as little disruptive of current theories and 
practices as possible.” replied Jack; “and, in this instance, 
we shall not interfere with the mining companies that are 
going concerns ; other than to restrict their purchase of 
further lands for mining purposes. Of course, this will 
effect many of them quite extensively ; but as the state will 
be ready at all times to take over the properties in the same 
manner that it will take over other public utilities, the effect 
will be less depressing, possibly, on business conditions than 
it would be if the mines were slowly confiscated by heavily 


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increased taxation, as some now propose that they should 
be.” 

“You mean,” cried Victor, “that by amendments to the 
organic law of the state you would restrict the sale of min- 
eral rights in land to others than the state itself?” 

“Yes,” answered Jack, “You see, Rod, what we have to 
do is to stop all this ‘get-rich-quick’ business. I would put 
my finger on speculation, in its many phases, as the one 
great sore of our economic life. It is the basis, I would 
venture to say, of the mad materialism of men. Gambling, 
whether for coin across the table, or for gold in the earth ; 
whether by horse race, in the lottery, or for the minerals 
and oil that God stored for the use of all men, is an evil 
that is thoroughly destructive of social morality, equality, 
and social welfare in every respect.” 

“Undoubtedly,” assented Victor, “for it works against 
men’s highest interests whether they be winners or losers,” 
— and his thoughts ran back to his own speculative ventures, 
the last of which had ended so disastrously. 

“The speculative asquisition of wealth,” continued Jack, 
“is, in my judgment, the prime cause of the social unrest 
of today. It makes the dollar sign the basis for class dis- 
tinction; and that is what embitters the souls of men. We 
do not envy our brothers who stand above us by reason of 
pure intellectual, moral, or spiritual worth ; we do not envy 
the artists, the inventors, the skilled craftsmen ; but we do 
cry out against the great palaces, the yachts, the private 
cars, the butlers and footmen, the poodle dogs, that are 
purchased and provided out of great fortunes acquired by 
daring gambling in the things that are all men’s. We do 
protest against wealth that is acquired by cunning specula- 
tion in stocks, in foodstuffs, in lands, or acquired through 
special privileges inequitably granted, or by unfair com- 
mercial dealings.” 

“And yet, to get-rich-quick through speculative venture 
is the possessing mania of men,” declared Victor. 

“So much so,” admitted Jack, sadly, “that it is very dif- 


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ficult to win the approval of voters to programs of social 
reform that would tend to eliminate the chances of men 
acquiring riches in ways that demand so little of real merit. 
It is lamentable that each person seems to look at the matter 
from his own petty viewpoint, and thinking that his own 
future chance of becoming wealthy is involved, he frowns 
on any program that would deny him that opportunity.” 

“Still, we must not overlook the fact,” urged Victor, 
“that many legitimate considerations are involved in the de- 
sire of men to become rich, and that it is not wholly because 
of a mere mercenary spirit. Men desire wealth so greatly 
because they believe that its possession will enable them to 
enrich and widen their life interests in every respect.” 

“Quite true,” exclaimed Jack, “but the unfortunate part 
is that in the involved game of getting rich, as it is played 
now, only a few men ever are winners, while the mass of 
men must necessarily lose. What we want to do is to so 
change the rules of the game so that all men alike may 
enjoy the splendid and just fruits of victory. And we can- 
not do this while so many men insist on individual ‘star’ 
playing. Certainly, in the great game of wealth-accumula- 
tion as it is now played the men who always are the winners 
are a class who would not be tolerated in any decent game 
of sport. They lack that highest attribute of worthy play- 
ers : they are not ‘team-workers’ ; they are self-seekers above 
all things else. Such men are traitors to the rest of those 
on humanity’s great team for playing the game of life.” 

“But the philosophy of these men,” contended Victor, 
“is that if you make it impossible for individual players to 
exhibit their exceptional capacity, you thereby will rob the 
game of its highest interest.” 

“I’m glad you raised that point, for that’s just where 
men’s thoughts go off on a tangent,” declared Jack vigor- 
ously. “We hear the phrases: ‘stifling ambition’, ‘remov- 
ing the incentive’, and, ‘so blunting the aspirations’ of men 
as to cause all progress to pall. But it’s all poppy-cock to 
talk about stifling man’s aspiring spirit. Man’s born a con- 


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queror; and you had as well talk of confining- the winds in 
caves as to talk about stifling man’s conquering energies. 
Because men should find further selfish wealth-accumula- 
tion frowned upon, because they should find only censure 
for individual ‘star’ playing, is no reason for believing that 
they would sulk on the side-lines and refuse further to en- 
ter into the great game.” 

“I comprehend what you mean,” exclaimed Victor; “what 
we need to do is to change the incentive of men, to change 
the values of things for them, to direct their ambitions, to 
the end that they will cease to strive merely for individual 
riches, but will labor for the greater wealth of all humanity.” 

“That’s the idea,” cried Jack, — “team work in the grand 
game of life, for humanity’s sake, for God’s glory ! And 
who can doubt,” he added, “that all men will find that in 
working for the welfare of all they will be serving their own 
highest interests.” 

“They will,” cried Victor ; “I know — now — that I’d rather 
risk my own chance of securing the higher blessings of life 
through team-work with my fellows, than by individual 
striving in the competition and conflict and confusion of 
the old way.” 

“God hasten the day,” exclaimed Jack, “when all men 
shall see that by serving the interests of all they thereby 
serve their own highest interests ! Believe me,” he contin- 
ued, “when we get through altering the rules of the game, as 
it is played in our state, and men find that all channels for 
mere selfish, individual wealth-gaining are closed, they will 
indeed turn their energies to the nobler task of making all 
men prosperous together.” 

“The old idea I had of socialism,” reflected Victor, “was 
of its being a scheme for dragging the rich men, the larger 
men, down to the level of the poorer and lesser ones ; but 
now I realize that socialism, in its purest aspect, is a scheme 
for lifting all men up !” 

“Indeed,” exclaimed Jack, “the class of men so often 
designated as the ‘bigger men’ will be the ones to be lifted 
25 


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the most. Such men will find their souls purged and re- 
deemed from the worship of the dollar-sign; the idolatry 
of the dollar will give way before the purer worship of a 
noble manhood and womanhood. ” 

“Men do not see, and I did not see,” confessed Victor, 
“the foolish philosophy of each one of us setting out to fight 
the battle of life alone. Men set out individually, single- 
handed, to wrest from nature, in fact, more often, to snatch 
from one another, those things which are counted to make 
life more pleasurable. Men sacrifice the better days of 
their youth to accumulate wealth — with a legitimate desire 
as they believe, of providing for their later years — they en- 
dure all the hardships that are necessary, bear all the stings 
and whips and sears that scar their nobler manhood, 
only to find, too often, that death suddenly intervenes and 
they cannot see, even, the poor properties they gathered. 
Or, perhaps it is for their families that men nobly would 
provide; and so, they struggle manfully all their days amid 
heart-breaking strife and conflict ; but alas, how many, many 
must die at last with the realization that their efforts were 
in vain, for some of their fellows, stronger than they, have 
snatched the gifts that might have been theirs ! And these 
stronger men who win — how often do they find when at 
last they clutch the choicest gifts of God in their hands, 
that the loved ones for whom they so valiantly made the 
struggle have suddenly been taken to that place where ma- 
terial gifts cannot count!” 

“ ‘Behold the fowls of the air ;’ ” appropriately quoted 
Jack, “ ‘for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye 
not much better than they?’. . . .‘And why take ye thought 
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they 
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say 
unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 
like one of these/ ” 

“Great God! Jack,” exclaimed his friend, “why was I 
ever so blind to the simple fact of the senseless futility of 


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men fighting among themselves in fierce competition for 
the material bounties of God, rather than of collectively 
turning their energies, shoulder to shoulder, energy added to 
energy, to the grand purpose of conquering nature and 
turning its great forces to the service of all the children of 
God?” 

“To answer that question,” returned Jack, “would be to 
give the solution for the perplexing problem of social ex- 
istence. I only know that, socially, we are living together 
like hyenas; that, socially, we really are Huns. God has 
pronounced as fools those who seek merely to hoard; and 
yet, all of mankind are wildly, madly, struggling to hoard 
for themselves as much of the goods of life as it is possible 
for them to do. And in their mad career of conquering 
for self, for self-riches, self-pleasures, self-kultur; men think 
little of trampling each other and women and babies under 
foot. There is but one remedy. For those like you and 
me and others with the broader, better visions, to stand val- 
iantly, undaunted, uncompromisingly, to the end that social 
Hunnism shall be banished forever from the face of the 
earth !” 

Victor’s eyes lighted brilliantly, and his voice throbbed 
with intensity, as he cried: “I can hardly wait, Dal, to join 
the fray in our state! What a glorious fight it will be; 
downing the social Hun at every turn, and helping to weld 
the citizenship of our commonwealth into a unified army 
of pioneers with the one set and noble purpose of making 
that portion of the earth within our confines, at least, a fit 
dwelling place for the sons of men and the children of God ! 

“But tell me,” he continued, “of your further plans for 
blocking the avenues to individual wealth accumulation 
through speculation, and the turning of men’s thoughts to 
collective striving. I can see how you will eliminate the 
gambling for the oils and minerals stored in the earth by 
decreeing that the title to these things shall not pass except 
to the state itself. Which, by the way, certainly will mean 
the more efficient production, and wiser conservation. And 


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I can see, too; how with municipal and state ownership of 
all public utilities, how with the operative ownership of in- 
dustry with the certificates of stock made non-transferable, 
that there will be little chance for speculation in stocks, 
bonds and mortgages. Also, I recognize speculation in 
foodstuffs and other products can be discouraged by wise 
legislation on the subject; but tell me, how will you prevent 
the buying and holding of land for increased valuations? 
Not the last of this evil surely, is that in a measure it makes 
‘the earth a closed shop for men !’ ” 

“I believe, Rod, that it will be possible to prevent the 
further speculation in land, and the withholding of its use 
from others, by' simply inserting a provision in our organic 
law providing that the title to land shall not pass unless the 
property sought to be conveyed is to be used by the pur- 
chaser as a residence or a business homestead. Such a 
restriction on the purchase and sale of land titles would 
affect the present status of property holding as little as any 
restriction of which I know; while, at the same time, ac- 
complishing the great end that is to be desired. Don’t you 
see that the present owners of property would not be af- 
fected in their titles? They still would have the right of 
disposing of their property; restricted, of course, in selling 
only to those who needed a place where to live or to work. 
Further speculation in land values would be practically im- 
possible, for one could not pass or acquire title unless the 
property was to be used for the purpose set forth in the con- 
stitution.” 

“But what provision would you make for the passing by 
descent and distribution of the many present large property 
holdings?” inquired Victor. 

“Our laws of inheritance would not be affected,” replied 
Jack ; “the present holders of large properties would be free 
to dispose of them at their death, or even by gift during 
their lifetime; except, of course, that our statutes relating 
to the taxation of the estates of decedents would be so 
amended as to provide for the gradual reversion of all land 


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titles to the state; not affecting, however, the titles to home- 
steads. Thus, in time, would be realized state ownership 
of land in a way that would be little disruptive/’ 

“I see,” exclaimed Victor, “and in time there would be 
no landlords ! A citizen either would be his own landlord 
or the lessee of his state. Men would cease to hold domin- 
ion over any portion of the earth other than that of which 
they were making personal use ; and other men would cease 
to live as serfs and vassals and to pay tribute to feudal land- 
lords.” 

“Quite right,” replied Jack, “that’s the program. Of 
course, there would be no restriction on a person tempo - 
rarily leaving his homestead and leasing it to another; but 
a person would not be permitted to acquire a second home- 
stead, as long as he held the title to the first one.” 

“Your program sounds practical in every respect,” agreed 
Victor; “and our state before long would become a com- 
monwealth of home owners. Once again the word ‘home’ 
would stir tender and sacred emotions in the breasts of 
men.” 

“Yes, that’s the program, Rod; every citizen in our state 
under his own vine and fig tree, if he chooses! Every man 
with a home, and every home a castle ! That’s the program. 
The passing of the plutocrats of property, the barons of 
gold and coal and oil ; the magnates of the railways ! The 
passing of the princes and potentates all who have been 
tossed into place and power by the lucky throw of the gamb- 
ler’s dice; by the sudden turn of the market sheet; embez- 
zlers of power, usurpers of place, without merit to rule or 
wisdom to guide, betrayers of humanity and traitors to God ; 
human carrion feeding on the flesh of their fallen fellows ; 
Great God ! Rod, the passing of these Huns from place and 
power in our state soon shall be an accomplished fact!” 

“On with the battle,” cried Victor with tense enthusiasm 
kindled by the vision, “Sound the call, lead the fray !” 

During this engrossing conversation, Courtney had been 
intensely interested as each new project was unfolded. 


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“Yes,” she chimed in, her eyes flashing with the fire in 
her soul, “unfurl the colors from the heights, lift up the 
eyes, and see the angels of God leaning over the parapets 
of heaven to watch the future in our state !” 

“A wonderful vision they shall see,” cried Jack, with a 
joyous laugh, “a new race of manhood rising to take the 
place of the fallen puppets of chance ! See the new Con- 
querors in council ready to shape their purpose ! Watch 
them gird their armor, and lock their shields ! Nature is 
the common enemy ! Forward the stout hearted warriors 
move! Over mountain and field and valley and stream 
they are spreading to fight the foe ! Cataracts are being 
attacked, conquered, harnessed ; and set to service ! Spindles 
hum and sing the glad refrain of victory ! See the stout- 
hearted warriors in the forests felling the giants ! Lo, what 
mansions rise to adorn the new kingdom of man ! How 
gladly nature yields her treasures to men when they come 
without strife among themselves and the cruel competition 
that wastes ! See the mines emitting their black diamonds 
with volcanic freedom ! The wells pouring forth their yel- 
low fluid ! The fields smiling with harvests of Golden 
grain ! Hear the hum of the hammers in the workshops ! 
Men are at work with songs in their hearts because none 
shall rob them now of the fruits of their toil ! 

“And all is not labor ! Hear the laughter of the children ! 
See their flashing eyes and ruddy cheeks ! None is hungry 
now ; nor ill-fed ; nor poorly clad ; none toil in sweat-shops 
of torture ! Mothers’ hearts are not sad ; fathers’ cheeks 
are not furrowed. There’s enough for all now — and to 
spare ! Old time luxuries are comforts ; and comforts have 
become necessities ! And to think that men feared to try 
social sanity, and preferred to live together as mad men !” 

“Oh, what a joy it will be,” cried Victor with unaffected 
fervor, “to get back home, where men are greeting one an- 
other as brothers in the common purpose of making the 
earth to yield her treasures for the blessing of the children 
of men ! What a new competition we shall enter upon — a 


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competition of service ! A competition in the higher things 
of life! None shall lead now without merit; none shall 
command without capacity ! Is not that what men have 
always demanded, Dal?” 

“So it is, Rod. The men who would call themselves 
leaders have demanded that their merit and capacity should 
count, and should have its just recompense. The true op- 
portunity now is here ; the field is open for all men to show 
their merit. In the new era there will be no weaklings, no 
unfit, to rise by the lucky throw of the dice ; cunning specu- 
lation plays no part in the new advancement; the dollar 
sign has ceased to be the flaming badge and proud insignia 
of success ! Men are now setting themselves to develop 
their minds, to enlarge their souls, to broaden their visions, 
in order to embrace the newer consciousness.” 

“I surrender all my old convictions, Dal,” cried Victor 
in frank confession; “opportunities have not been lessened, 
but rather broadened and equalized; the incentive to strug- 
gle has not been removed, rather magnified and ennobled ! 
I stand, unashamed, proud to be numbered among the Serv- 
ers, the socialists, the Salvationists — among any who have 
their eyes lifted to the dawning of a brighter and better 
day!” 

“ ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the 
Lord V ” cried Courtney, joyously, “ ‘His day is marching 
on !’ ” 

“ ‘He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call 
retreat !’ ” chimed in the voices of the men, and the com- 
rades in chorus continued softly : 

‘He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment 
seat : 

Oh ! be swift, my soul to answer Him ! be jubilant, my feet ! 
Our God is marching on ! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

His day is marching on. 


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In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; 
As He died to make men holy, let us ' live ' to make men free, 
While God is marching on !’ ” 

The comrades, with tense and rapt emotion, softly re- 
peated the jubilant refrain; and then, instinctively, they 
turned their eyes out of the windows to watch the evening 
sun which was just settling below the crest of the mount- 
ains, bathing every ridge and peak and cliff and crag and 
canyon with its mellow gold. The social crusaders felt 
the nearer presence of God ! And they exulted to feel that 
in their souls they could claim somewhat of the same 
strength as the everlasting hills towards which their faces 
were turned. 

Presently the train glided into the valleys, and flashed 
through fields of spreading grain, showing dark green in the 
evening's late glow; and through meadows and pastures 
dotted with innumerable cattle contentedly grazing or quiet- 
ly resting. Surely here was perfect peace; here was nature 
in her choicest aspect; here was every sign of the heavenly 
Father's gracious provision for the welfare and contentment 
of his earthly children! Is it great wonder that the com- 
rades all should settle back in their seats with eyes half 
closed, dreamily to contemplate life and its mysterious bless- 
ings ? 

Victor alone held troubled thoughts ; and though without 
the car windows were scenes of peace and gladness and the 
glory of the sunset, in the lover’s soul was much of gloom 
and anxious foreboding of tomorrow. The next morning 
would find them at home; and Victor would read in the 
eyes and hear from the lips of the woman he loved what the 
future would hold for him. Was it to be full of the joy 
of loving service together? or was he to be condemned 
to face the coming years with his own heart full of the 
anguish of disappointed love, while bravely struggling to 
instill happiness in the hearts of others? 


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393 


He heard his friends discussing the wisdom of Jack’s 
sending a message ahead to Margaret, urging her to meet 
him at the train. Courtney argued against this ; because in 
her woman’s heart she realized the sacredness of the re- 
union that was about to take place. She knew the vital 
emotions that would be in play ; and for herself she wanted 
to greet her girlhood friend in the secure cloister of the 
home where she could gather her in her arms and shed 
unconcealed tears of joy. 

The lover who was most interested took no part in the 
conversation. Victor felt he had no right to say any word 
involving the young woman he had so deeply wronged. He 
knew he had forfeited this right when, more than a year 
before, he had turned away from her presence in abrupt 
anger. He had added to this churlish treatment by remain- 
ing astray through the long months in cruel silence. Could 
she forget, and would she forgive? This was the troubled 
burden of the man’s thoughts. Would it be possible for her 
to believe that he was now a different man from what he 
had been in the past? Would she instinctively comprehend 
that his spirit had been chastened, that his soul had been 
purged of its black cynicism, and that his whole manhood, 
indeed, had taken on somewhat of the subtle splendor that 
is possible only to those who continually walk in the shadow 
of the Cross? And even though she did behold him a new 
man, would he still not remain dwarfed in the presence of 
the other whom his friend had told him she was measuring 
with love’s eyes ? 

Only the coming of another day could tell, and, in the 
meantime, the anxious, restless lover kept all of his facul- 
ties working at the ceaseless task of considering over and 
over again every possibility of what the morrow would bring 
to him. 


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CHAPTER XXL 
"comrades all/' 

I. 

At home, Margaret waited with anxious heart the return 
of Jack. Each passing hour since the receipt of his message 
she had experienced an increasing restlessness. The tele- 
gram had contained a message that was pregnant with hope 
— yet a hope that might easily be turned into a dreadful 
disappointment. Surely Jack knew — though she had en- 
deavored to hide it, and he had tried to ignore it — there 
was only one great joy of which she had dreamed. And 
Jack certainly would not raise a false hope; unless — un- 
less the promised joy involved the missing girlhood friend 
and not the absent lover! Perhaps Jack had found Court- 
ney in his travels — and it was only of his own joy that he 
was thinking. But this could not be ; and she drew from 
her bosom the folded paper and read still again the mes- 
sage which she knew by heart : "bringing you a joy of which 
you perhaps have dreamed!” There was no doubt the joy 
was to be hers! But why was it to be only a joy of which 
she perhaps had dreamed? 

To the very hour of Jack’s expected return, Margaret 
uninterruptedly pursued this "treadmill toil of thought.” 
One moment she would be athrob with tense yearning, and 
expectancy that the promised joy involved him who scarce- 
ly had been out of her dreaming since the tragic day of his 
departure; and the next moment — the bright hope having 
failed to be sustained by any rational process — her spirits 
would relapse into the dismal gloom from which only the 
moment before they had been aroused. One thing she did 
know : even if the realized joy involved her girl friend alone, 
she must set her spirits to be loyal to that joy when it came, 
and not to let herself wish that it might have been other- 
wise. 

As the minutes neared when the train was due on which 


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395 


Jack probably was to arrive, the restless girl had to struggle 
hard with herself to stifle an impulse to flee to the station. 
So nearly did this impulse come to mastering her, that once 
she put on her hat, half-determined to cut the anxious mo- 
ments as short as possible. After this act of indecision, 
however, she threw herself on a couch to await with tense 
and throbbing nerves, as she believed, the first sound to 
announce the coming. 

But she proved to be a poor listener. For Margaret had 
heard no sound when the door of her room was quietly 
opened and Courtney Chester slipped inside. 

With great and wild joy, the two women threw them- 
selves into each other’s open arms. They laughed and wept 
in turn, as they embraced. What a wonderful knowledge 
of human feeling, of human pshchology, the Master showed 
when he told of the great joy over the lost one that is found ! 
In the unrestrained abandon of emotion with which she 
greeted her friend, Margaret, for a moment, forgot the joy 
she had been expecting. But only for a moment ; for it sud- 
denly flashed over her that at last she had the realization of 
what Jack had promised in his message. With a brave 
heart she held her friend at arm’s length and gazed into her 
eyes with a wonderful love while exclaiming: 

‘‘This, then, is the great joy of which Jack knew I had 
dreamed !” But the eyes are the heart's mirror; and in spite 
of the brave effort not to show further concern— either by 
eye-message or lip-tremor — Courtney read and understood, 
pitied and answered ! 

“Yes, dear, but it is only one of the joys. You shall have 
two joys today; for he is here!” 

They held each other in close and quivering embrace ; 
until Courtney exclaimed : “How selfish of me to keep 
you for myself so long!” 

But she detained her friend even longer; for she had 
important things to relate. And Victor’s ears would have 
burned had there been told into them the fervid praises that 
now were poured into the ears of — “listening love !” His 


396 


THE SERVERS 


heart would have been full of gratitude had he been aware 
of the loyal effort his good comrade in suffering was exert- 
ing to be sure that his reception would be, if possible, more 
gracious even than her own had been. 

But all was not needed to be told that could have been 
told. For when Margaret with palpitating heart learned 
that the waiting man and lover now was wearing that crown 
of glory which adorns the temples of those only who show 
their perfect adoration of the Master by unselfish service, 
she burst into tears of joy and fled precipitately to where 
her lover was anxiously waiting. 

We seek in vain to know why gladness should have sor- 
row as its shadow. We ask without an answer why the 
law of compensation should require that the happiness of 
some men must rest as a shadow and a burden on the hearts 
of others. Therefore, it would be to no good purpose idly 
to try to solve the riddle as to why the joy of Victor Rod- 
ney should necessarily have had to fall as a pall on the soul 
of Arthur Forstner! Utopia will not change these things. 
Perhaps heaven will ! 

A joyous double wedding soon followed; a wedding made 
remarkable by the exulting presence of a thousand approv- 
ing comrades. John Trainor and his noble wife were there. 
For the doctors had, at last, turned him loose as being fit 
once again to fight the good fight. Of course, John was 
overjoyed because of this; and it was in a spirit of unre- 
strained enthusiasm that he exclaimed when he first saw 
Jack Dalhart: 

“I’m on tiptoe, old man, on tiptoe, and waiting the signal 
for the fray !” 

And as Jack shot a gripping hand to his comrade he 
cried with the same spirit of unreserved enthusiasm : “Good 
boy! good boy! All is well! God reigns! and Social Justice 
fast is coursing down the sands of time !” 

After the wedding a wonderful supper was held at which 
gathered a great concourse of all the Servers in the city, 
and many from all over the state. John Trainor made them 


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397 


a ringing speech replete with reminiscences of past victories, 
and full, too, of noble prophecies of an even greater future. 

“It seems only yesterday, my comrades,” he said, “that 
a mere handful of us set out on our mission. So few ! yet 
with the simple faith in our hearts that God’s day does not 
end with the ending of our Sabbath day ! And with souls 
sustained by the conviction that if any part of man is divine, 
then all of man’s activities should have a divine purpose !” 

And in closing, he said : “In the light shining in your 
faces I see a rainbow promise illuminating the skies of the 
future ! And the men who toil and the men who weep 
may lift up their eyes and, seeing, find hope in their hearts !” 

Then John’s beautiful wife rose to her feet and, lifting 
high her glass, proposed the toast: 

“COMRADES ALL!” 


THE END. 
























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